Two Egyptian Princes
by DemonYodaVoice
Summary: Living under the rule of his uncle, Gozaburo, Atem and his cousin Yugi have grown up without knowing of the mysterious resistance dedicated to dethroning the pharaoh. But after an accident removes Yugi from the picture, Atem runs away and joins them, with no idea what he's really getting into.
1. Prologue

Malik- What is this!?

Azzure- A new fanfic, why is there a problem?

Malik- Another one? Don't you have like three already?

Azzure- This is the second Malik, I only have two at the moment.

Malik- There'll be a third around here soon enough I know it!

Azzure- Sure, sure, now the disclaimer if you would.

Malik- Fine, but only because I like you. ArcherAzzure does not own Yugioh, but she does own this story plot.

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><p>4 Years Before<p>

Atem gazed out the window as the flickering torch flames came closer, followed by the shouts of his uncle's soldiers. He felt his cousin Yugi clinging to his arm as the two boys stared down into the city lite by the burning flames.

He felt the eleven year old's shivering form pressed into his side, "Atem." He whispered softly, his voice almost drowned out by the yelling below, "What's going on?"

The older boy's red eyes danced with the flickering flame light, "I don't know Yugi. I don't know."

Suddenly behind them there was a loud bang and only seconds later the door flew open and a guard bolted racing inside. "My princes! Please get away from there! It's dangerous!"

Yugi glanced fearfully away and whimpered in alarm, "What's happening!?"

The soldier walked over to the window and gazed outside, "Our enemy draws near my princes. Every second that we speak the resistance draws nearer and nearer to the castle."

Atem's gaze flickered first towards Yugi then towards the sword lying by the door frame, his father had given him that blade and he used it in many practice battles. It can't be any harder in a real fight, he told himself. So after one last glance at his cousin he bolted towards the door and grabbed his cloak and sword on the way.

"Atem!" Yugi screamed his name and rushed towards the door.

The guard also turned, "NO! My Prince!" He pushed back into the room behind him, but Atem was already too far down the hallway.

By the time he had reached the outside fighting had erupted from almost every corner, Atem pulled up the hood on his cloak and gazed in circles at the guards locked in combat with creatures of the likes he had never seen before, or as far back as he could remember. A skull demon blasted down three guards just emerging from the guard house with a blast of lightning.

Atem's eyes widened and he turned back as if to flee to the castle. He gasped as he noticed that in the few precious seconds he had turned his back the area he had covered had been filled with fighting groups of men and these creatures.

He was debating whether or not to risk trying to pass the skull demon when a black panther wearing a long flowing purple cape and sword belted to his side streaked past him screaming a battle cry. He watched as the feline unsheathed his sword and drove it into the chest of an oncoming soldier, the soldier let out a short cry before falling to the ground dead as a door post.

He let out a cry as a soldier next to the feline drove his sword through the chest of silver colored wolf attacking nearby. The wolf howled one last long note before it broke off into a shower of shimmering lights that vanished before making contact with the ground. The panther turned his head and killed the guard with a single quick movement and without a second glance.

Atem's eyes widened, these creatures didn't die like normal humans did. That meant only one thing, they were shadow creatures. Demons said to have been released into the world at the death of his father Pharaoh Aknamkanon. He frowned; his uncle Gozaburo had told him that he had driven these beasts out of their lands and killed them all. But shouldn't that mean that they shouldn't be here?

He stared in horror at the panther that was slashing his way through soldier after soldier, that defiantly was not an illusion, and it wasn't dead either. He shivered, well whether it was supposed to be dead or not it was killing too many people for Atem to just stand by and not do anything about it. He would be the pharaoh of Egypt someday, and he wanted to show his people that he was willing to fight by their side no matter what.

He took a step towards the feline as he killed yet another of the guards, the cat didn't seem to notice him as he pointed his sword at his back. He took a deep breath, preparing to stab the sword into the creature's back, but at the last second the cat glanced over his shoulder.

Atem leaped backwards as the cat spun around, his sword flew through the hair where the boy had been only moments before. He purred, "A surprise attack? That's a smart idea." He swung his sword back and forth in front of Atem, "I'm impressed that a shrimp like you could come up with an idea like that." Then he made a growling sound that caused Atem to step back nervously, until he realized that the panther was only laughing. He winked, "I like kids, so I'll give you a shot and we'll see what you can do huh?"

Atem blinked and the shadow creature took a bow, "You first my friend." Atem's eyes widened, this creature was actually taking him seriously. He lifted his sword up and pointed it at the panther, the creature's eyes narrowed. "Give me your best shot kid."

Atem nodded and lunged forward quickly, his sword angled towards his opponent's leg. The panther took a step back and deflected the blow with his own sword, "Nice." He narrowed his eyes and slashed towards Atem's head.

The boy ducked and rolled under his attacker's arm and stabbed his sword towards his foot, but just before his sword made contact the panther moved his foot and flipped over his head, Atem's eyes widened. The creature landed with a thump and brushed the cloak from over his head, "Nice try kid, but you have to be faster than tha…" He looked down at the sword blade that had pierced straight through his heart.

He spun around quickly causing the man who had stabbed him to let go of his sword and fall back in fright. The cat narrowed his eyes and took in a shaky breath, "That" He stated, "was just cheap." Then his eyes rolled back and after one last breath he exploded into a shower of sparkles just as the others had.

Atem stood still as stone trembling, he had just help kill a living breathing creature, and he hadn't even been able to defend himself from the attack. He'd been so occupied with Atem himself that he didn't notice… he looked over to see the soldier who had stabbed the shadow demon caught his sword on its decent towards the ground, he winked in Atem's direction, "I don't know who you are kid, but you've got my thanks for this."

A scream of rage filled the air only a few feet away, and both of them turned to see a warrior slashing his way through numerous groups of soldiers. He was well taller than Atem and even the soldier for that matter and dressed in a blue and orange, he held a flaming sword in his right hand and he swung it with surprise force. The man's eyes widened and he turned towards Atem, "Alright boy, this is when we get ourselves out of here."

"It's a bit late for that don't you think?" Atem looked up to see the warrior staring down at them, he had his gaze turned towards the soldier, "After all, he's already dead isn't he!?" He screamed his last comment and Atem took numerous steps backwards, but the soldier he who had killed the panther was rooted to the spot quaking in fear.

"He was killed in cold blood!" The expression on the soldier's face drove the swordsman into a fit of rage, "You want to know why!? Did you give him a chance to defend himself!? I THINK NOT!"

Atem flinched as the monster drove his sword through the man's heart, and as he toppled over dead the creature looked up towards the sky, "I'll kill you all! DO YOU HEAR ME!? YOU WILL ALL DIE!" He brought his head back down and looked around, his eyes narrowed as they scanned the surrounding area, and when they settled on Atem he tightened his grip on his sword, "Starting with you."

Atem's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards into a narrow alley way, but the swordsman moved towards him with surprising speed, "Oh no! You are not going to run away from me!" Atem stumbled and fell into the dirt; he closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable death, but it never came.

"Unhand me!" He opened his eyes at the sound of his attacker's struggling; he was surprised to see that the swordsman was being held back by what looked like a dragon. It was a shade of tan and looked as though it was made of bone, its eyes glowed red along with several other spots on its body. The swordsman struggled against the beast that had wrapped itself around him, "You will unhand me at once!"

"Actually, I don't believe we will be doing that." Atem jumped as he looked to the left of the dragon creature to see a cloaked figure standing nearby, "At least not while you're in this mind frame, we'll end up with unnecessary death unless you calm down."

The swordsman continued to struggle as he glared at Atem, "You call his death unnecessary!?"

Atem flinched as the man turned to look at him, he briefly caught the gaze of the man's green eyes before he turned back towards the swordsman, "Indeed I do Frank."

The swordsman stopped struggling and his eyes widened, "You saw what he did! Panther Warrior's dead because of him!"

The man shook his head, "The boy did nothing Frank, you already killed the culprit. Panther Warrior was killed because of a cheap trick, nothing more."

The swordsman started to struggle again, "I don't care! If he hadn't distracted him he wouldn't be dead! Now unhand me at once so that I can kill him!"

The dragon tightened his grip and the man groaned, "Frank please just listen a moment!" When the swordsman continued to fight at his prison the man grabbed part of his helmet and dragged it towards the ground, "You WILL listen to me!"

His yell echoed through the air a moment and the swordsman slowly stopped his struggling, after he hadn't tried to pull away for several minutes the man let go of his hat and he slowly moved his head back so that he was looking the man straight in the eyes. The man sighed, "Look Frank… I know you're mad about Panther Warrior's death. I mourn for your loss, he was a good fighter, but revenge isn't the answer."

The warrior looked away, "You wouldn't feel that way if it had happened to one of you priests." Atem frowned, priests? What did he mean by priests? And why did the cloaked man's voice seem so familiar? He looked the three over, who were these people?

The priests sighed, "That's not true, had it been one of the others..." He paused, "Yes I would have been mad, but I couldn't go recklessly endanger my life and lives of innocent people just so I could kill the men who killed them." He gazed down at the ground, "If it came to that I would do the only thing I could do, I'd wish their souls luck in the afterlife and move on with my task." He frowned, "As should you, we can't change the past Frank."

The warrior scoffed, "I knew you wouldn't understand; you humans don't understand what my kind goes through." He looked up into the cloudless sky, "If we die we don't go to the afterlife like you humans, we're forced back into our stone tablets." He glared back at the cloaked priest, "And we're forced to stay like that until we're summoned. Except that now isn't even an option, if we die then we're sealed in that prison for the rest of our lives." He gritted his teeth and spat at the ground, "And we can't change that."

The man dipped his head, "While it's true that I don't understand the pain that the stone tablets cause you nor do any other humans for that matter and we'll probably never know. But I still know that violence isn't the answer." He shook his head, "And I'm still not letting you go until you're calm enough to act rationally."

The swordsman's eyes narrowed, "Why I should…!" He started struggling madly and the man just stood where he was and sighed. "Unhand me at once! I demand it!"

The swordsman fought again for another few minutes yelling and kicking the entire time before he finally let his body go limp and let out a rough breath. The man watched him for a moment and sighed, "Are you willing to behave rationally now?"

The swordsman was looking down at the ground; his hat cast a shadow so that Atem couldn't make out his eyes, but something about how easily he had given up made Atem nervous. As he nodded and the man turned to the dragon Atem took a few steps backwards just to be safe, "You can let him down now."

The dragon nodded and slowly uncurled himself from around the warrior, as he was doing so Atem tensed as though to run. He didn't have to wait long, because as soon as the dragon had unwrapped himself the swordsman jerked up his head and threw himself towards Atem, his eyes filled with bloodlust.

The boy took several startled steps backwards and the swordsman drove his sword into the ground where he had been standing for so long. "Frank!" The priest raced forward to grab the swordsman's left arm, as the warrior struggled to pull away the man yelled over his shoulder, "Curse of Dragon! Help me!"

The dragon swooped down and once again curled himself around the swordsman, but instead of just staying there he flapped his wings and took to the air taking the captured swordsman with him.

The man fought madly when he found that his feet no longer touched the ground, "Unhand me! I'll cut you to pieces if I must! Don't think I won't!"

The dragon struggled to stay airborne as he fought back. He looked down at the man, "Get the child out of here! I'll hold him off while you get away!"

The man shook his head, "What about you?"

The dragon continued flapping, his wing beats becoming strained, "I'll be fine." The man frowned then nodded as the dragon groaned, "Now go! I can't hold him here much longer!"

The man nodded and grabbed Atem's arm, "Let's go boy." He took off down one of the alley ways with Atem in tow. Behind them he could hear the swordsman screaming after them, he looked ahead as they ran through several alley ways with twists and turns before the man rounded one last corner and leaned up against the wall panting.

Atem pulled out of his grip and moved several steps away, the man glanced around the corner, "There… we should be far enough away from him now." He turned back towards Atem, "Now the only question is what should I do with you?"

Atem stood there staring at him a moment, his eyes taking in the man's appearance. When they had been running the priest's hood had blown back revealing his green eyes in more detail, along with his black hair that hung down to just above his shoulders. The man looked so familiar and Atem was trying to place him when his eyes caught the sight of a dark shadow moving towards the man.

The man wasn't paying attention to either him or the shadow, he knew he should flee for it, but he couldn't just let another person die, even if they were the enemy.

When the shadow was just a few feet away he screamed, "Look out behind you!" The man's eyes flashed on him for a single moment before he spun around to face the creature behind him.

At Atem's yell the figure had stopped moving and stood still where it was. The priest reached his hand into his cloak and withdrew a sparkling object; the scales sparkled in the moon light, "Don't come a step closer." Atem gasped, at the glowing scales, he'd seen them before!

The shadow bowed, "Karim." Atem's eyes widened, that name! It was so familiar, but he couldn't place where he had heard it before.

The man, Karim, tightened his grip on the scales, "Who are you?"

The shadow figure moved forwards until he stepped into the light only a foot from them, he wore a cloak similar to the one the first man was wearing, as he tipped his head up Atem caught sight of his blue eyes.

The man Karim gasped and let his arm fall down to his side, "Thank the Egyptian gods, I thought you were someone else."

The man folded his arms over his chest, "If I would have been anyone else you would have been dead." He leaned around to look at Atem, "Who's this?"

Karim glanced over his shoulder, "He's a kid we've picked up."

The man looked back at Atem, "This wouldn't have anything to do with Frank would it?"

Atem watched Karim stiffen, "What do you mean by that?"

He narrowed his eyes as he looked back Atem, "He's on a killing spree Karim, he's out for blood."

The man put his head in his hand, "Oh my Ra, I got him started on this." He glanced back at Atem, "I was just trying to protect the kid." His green eyes were wide, "What about Curse?"

The other man looked him in eyes, "He's kept him from killing anyone innocent so far, but it's only a matter of time before he does something."

Atem saw the pain written across Karim's face, "I have to go help him." His friend nodded, Karim sighed and looked over his shoulder in Atem's direction, "But what about the kid?"

"Leave him with me." Atem shivered under the man's gaze, "I'll take care of him."

Karim frowned, "No offense, but since we left you haven't exactly been what I would call the children type."

The man turned to him, "We don't have any other options, Curse needs you now!"

Karim turned and started into the alley, "Alright, but take care of yourself and don't get caught. You know we can't lose you."

He winked, "I won't be caught."

Karim shook his head; Atem could see that he was clearly worried, "Just keep telling yourself that." Then he nodded once at Atem pulled up his hood and took off down the alley.

Atem turned and looked at the man he had been left with, the man was looking him over, his blue eyes searching for something, "Who are you?"

Atem jumped, he frowned and gazed at the man but didn't utter word. The man sighed and reached under his cloak to pull out a necklace. It was a golden ring with a triangle in the center and multiple golden spikes hanging from the ring itself. Atem gasped it had to be the millennium ring!

The man turned and his eyes flickered down from the ring to Atem, "You recognize this?" Atem kept his mouth shut and stood where he was, not showing any emotions. The man scanned him over again, "You're not wearing the uniform of the guard, so you can't be part of the military." He looked down at the ring, "And yet you recognize this." His eyes flicked up as he lunged forward, his hand outstretched towards Atem's hood.

The boy stepped back but tripped and his hood fell back revealing his hair, the man gasped and instantly dropped into a bow, "My prince."

Atem took a step backwards, "Who… Who are you?"

The man slowly lifted his head, "You don't recognize me?" Atem shook his head and the man bowed his head, he sat like that for a moment before he reached up towards his hood, "Perhaps I can refresh your memory my prince." He pulled back the dark material and strands of dark brown hair fell down and settled around his face. He looked back up at Atem, "Now do you remember?"

Atem recoiled, it couldn't be! The Millennium Scales, Karim, the Millennium Ring, and now… He shook his head and moved away, "It can't be! You're… You're dead!"

The man looked up, his eyes showed that Atem's last comment had clearly hurt him "Who told you that?"

Atem shivered, "It…it was my uncle Gozaburo."

The man spat on the ground, "That man is nothing but a lying cheat; he doesn't deserve to be called the pharaoh." He looked up at Atem his eyes softened, "I can assure you my prince I am very much alive. Just as much so as I was when we last met."

Atem looked at him, "Then you really are…?"

The man rose to his feet, "Indeed, Priest Mahado wielder of the Millennium Ring."

Atem's eyes widened, "Then the other priests are…?"

Mahado nodded, "Indeed, they are also very much alive as you have witnessed with Karim." Atem blinked, that's where he had heard the name before, he had been one of his father's priests. Mahado looked around, "We haven't much time my prince, I must be brief and to the point." Atem opened his mouth to object, but Mahado just shook his head, "I'm afraid I cannot answer your questions at the moment." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a glittering puzzle dangling from a chain, Atem gasped as he dropped to one knee, "I have taken a great chance by taking this, but I felt that you would need it." He looked into his eyes, "You do know what it is don't you?"

Atem nodded, "My father's Millennium Puzzle."

Mahado draped it over his neck, "It is yours now, but I must stress do not let Gozaburo get his hands on this item, it would be the end of us all if he did."

Atem nodded and the two turned at the sound of shouting in the distance, Mahado bowed, "I must leave my prince." Atem's eyes widened and Mahado bowed his head, "I like it no more than you do, but should you ever need us we priests are there for you." He turned to leave, "Should you need us, we shall be there. And should you every wish to come and join us, I will be waiting eagerly for that day." With one last grave nod he took off into the alley way and vanished into the darkness.

Atem paused a moment then ran after him. Upon hitting the main street he was instantly surrounded by his uncle's soldiers, "My prince, your uncle has been worried sick. Please come at once."

Atem was placed on the back of one of the horses and slowly rode back towards the palace, just as the gates were shutting he heard his uncle yelling, "Gentlemen, we will soon have won ourselves a great victory. Now finish them where they stand!" But unlike the others, he found that he could not celebrate as the remaining soldiers raced through the gate to chase down the retreating enemy.

Instead later when he was alone in his room and the moon was at its peak in the sky he gazed out the window and looked down at the puzzle around his neck. He felt a tear run down his cheek, he wanted so badly to leave the palace and join Mahado and the other priests. He turned to see Yugi's shape lying in slumber on the bed, but he couldn't leave his cousin, not now, not ever.

He gazed out the window at the dessert beyond where the fires of battle could still be seen, "I'm sorry Mahado, but I can't." He grasped the puzzle's chain in one hand and felt tears running down his cheek. He sat at the window, and eventually cried himself to sleep.

As his head dropped down to rest on the window a burst of light flashed through the sky above the battlefield on the plains

A man looked up at the moon in the sky; the light reflected off his head and almost caused his tattoos to glow in the light. All around him were the bodies of the pharaoh's guard that had been killed in the battle. "It shouldn't be this way. We've always worked with them to protect the pharaoh, now they are our greatest enemies."

He looked over his shoulder at the woman standing a few feet away; her long black hair flowed freely down her back since she had removed her cloak. "Indeed, it has always been that way since we were young and the seven items were first created." She looked around them at the blood red sand, "Now that way of life is on the verge of collapse."

"It's all because of that filthy imposter, if he would just give up the throne like he had agreed to we wouldn't be in this mess." The man closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath, "It is not place to say such things though; after all he is the prince's uncle." When she didn't respond he sighed, "What are we doing Isis? Are we right to be here acting against the pharaoh? Or should we return and serve him instead?"

"No" Isis whispered behind him, "We can't stop. If we go back and give him the items like he want's there's no telling what he'll do with their power." She shook her head, "No, we cannot do that; regardless of all of the other options we cannot take that one."

He nodded, "I agree, too many people have given up their lives for this cause; we cannot just throw all of it away now."

There was a slight shifting of the sands behind them, and the two turned to see a young girl slide down the sand dune and run towards them. Her long white hair lay scattered around her face, she ran with one had holding onto her red hat and holding a slip of paper close to her chest with the other. As she ran towards them her black and red dress streamed out behind her. As she neared them she stopped and bowed. Isis smiled, "Perhaps some good news at last."

He frowned as the girl neared him holding out the paper, her expression seemed to go against what Isis's prediction. "I wouldn't be so sure."

Isis frowned as he took the paper, "Why is that Shada?"

He looked down at the paper and didn't answer for a moment as he read. After reaching the half way mark of the page he shoved it towards Isis and started to walk away, "I'll be right back."

Isis frowned and looked at the paper in her hand, "Shada, what are you…?"

Shada glanced over his shoulder, "Just read that and stay where you are, I'm checking something; I'll be back in a moment." Isis huffed but Shada noticed that she remained where she was.

He reached the top of the hill and turned north moving quickly through the sands after crossing another good distance he stopped and scanned the ground. In the moonlight it made it harder to make out colors then it would have been in the day time, "Hello?" He called cupping his hand to his mouth, "Is anyone there?" There was no replay and he slammed his balled fist into his leg and cringed at the pain, "For the love of the Egyptian gods, where are you?"

He looked around and around urgently, but the only things he saw were the bodies of the palace guard, they were spread out everywhere, dead. There wasn't anything else out there, just death. Just as he was turning to walk away his eyes caught sight of a single form lying still on the ground. At first glance it didn't look any different from anyone of the dead soldiers lying around, but after a closer glance he could see that he wasn't wearing the palace guard uniform, in fact he wasn't wearing anything that Shada was very used to, but he had seen the outfit before on rare occasions.

Shada scanned the sands furiously, that was one of them, but where was the second? They never were far apart unless they were forced away from each other; if he was here then he should be around here somewhere. Unless… he suddenly stopped and turned back to look at the figure, he wasn't near close enough to see him clearly, but he could tell for a fact that he was indeed human. He lay stretched out on the sand, Shada noticed that his chest was slowly rising up and down, so he was alive. A lump formed in his throat, "Oh my Ra." He looked around mentally taking note of his location before racing over the sand dune back towards where he had left Isis. This news was not going to go over well with Seto. That much he was sure of.

She looked up startled as he neared, "Did you find them?" He nodded and a smile broke out over her face, "Oh!" She turned to the girl behind her, "Is Len close enough to speak with Seto?"

The girl frowned and concentrated moment before nodding, "Alright, can you have him tell Seto that…"

"Wait Isis!" She turned startled, "That's not it, there's more."

"What else is there?"

Shada stopped panting, "There…there was only one survivor."

Isis's eyes widened, "But both of them were missing…are you saying that one of them is dead?" Behind her the girl looked alarmed and paused to concentrate on something.

Shada shook his head, "No." Isis and the girl both started to relax, Shada shut his eyes and tightened his hands into fists, "No, I'm afraid that we weren't lucky enough for that."

Isis looked at him, clearly shocked, "You're not saying!"

Shada felt tears running to down his cheeks, "Yes Isis, I am."

The woman bowed her head, her black hair falling into her face, "That's not possible, they couldn't have done it. It couldn't have happened!"

"But it did." Shada bowed his head, "I don't know how exactly they managed it since all they had ever told us was that it was a possibility."

"Then Seto banned the topic." Isis whispered.

"Indeed." He paused, "It seems that they pursued the issue regardless." He turned and looked at the girl who stood nearby trembling, he sighed for a moment before looking her in the eye. "Have Len tell Seto that we found a single survivor." Isis closed her eyes and tears started to run down her cheek as Shada added, "But also tell him that the other isn't dead."

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><p>Malik- That went over well… so who died?<p>

Azzure- What makes you think anyone died?

Malik- I looked over your notes.

Azzure- Malik I will not tolerate spoilers! And no one died.

Malik- Aww…so am I going to be in this story?

Azzure- Indeed you are. Eventually.

Malik- Shoot, that's not good! I'll ah… I'll see you later.

Azzure- Where's he going? Oh well, please read and review. I hope to have the next chapter up shortly.


	2. The Unknown Prisoner

Azzure- That's odd, I was almost positive Malik would be back by now. He better get back here soon, I will not do all the disclaimers for my fanfics myself! But I suppose I can do this one. I do not own Yu-gi-oh. But I really should go find a certain blond Egyptian.

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><p>Atem gazed out the window his eyes wandering over the far off sands, somewhere out there they were waiting for him. Somewhere out there the six priests of his father were awaiting his arrival as their prince to help them dethrone his uncle, who even now had not yet let Atem take control of his inheritance.<p>

Somewhere out there a good friend from his past was waiting eagerly for him to join them, and for all Atem knew he could be watching from the sands right now wondering when he was coming. Atem shook his head; there was one thing that he didn't know about though. The one thing that kept him from joining them in a single heartbeat, it was his cousin.

He looked down from his window to see Yugi sitting below in the garden. His cousin was surrounded by the cats that commonly hung around palace grounds. As if feeling his gaze Yugi looked up in Atem's direction and waved when he saw his cousin's face.

Atem smiled slightly and waved before turning his attention back to the sands on the horizon, he couldn't join them while his cousin was still with him. They might not understand, but his uncle didn't really seem to care what happened to Yugi. So Atem had taken it upon himself to make sure that Yugi wasn't lonely, and that was the reason he couldn't just leave. But he knew he could make a difference if he could just get out there…

He felt his face turn red, how could he ever think of abandoning his cousin like that. He lowered his chin down onto his arms which were folded on the sill, he didn't want to admit it, but he also knew deep in his heart that if he were to suddenly disappear that his uncle would probably take it out on Yugi. He shivered, he knew that Gozaburo wanted nothing but to destroy the priests and recover the seven millennium items that he could use to harness a tremendous power. What exactly the power was he wasn't sure, but he knew that if his uncle did get his hands on the power there would be no stopping him.

He looked down at the cushion seat where he was currently sitting; his uncle believed that the priests had taken all seven of the items with them when they had fled the palace, but unknown to him one had made its way back. He lifted up the cushion to see a flash of gold as the light hit the puzzle hidden within the secret box.

He lifted it out and sat back down on the seat, he traced the eye shaped inscription with his finger. The puzzle had belonged to his father, and four years ago it had been returned to him by an old friend.

He gazed back out the window as he slipped the puzzle around his neck, where was Mahado now? Were his feelings hurt at the fact that he hadn't joined him by now? He sighed, would Mahado understand why he hadn't joined them? Would he have done the same thing if their positions had been switched? Would any of them?

He sighed and leaned his head back against the window frame, what was he supposed to be doing? If Mahado was right when he said that Gozaburo was a doomed future for Egypt did that mean that he should be out there joining them in overthrowing him? Was he making a mistake by trying to protect his cousin?

He groaned and dropped his head into his hand, he just wished for some sort of sign to tell him what he was supposed to be doing. He heard Yugi's joyous laughter from below and he smiled. It didn't matter what destiny said, at the moment he was content to stay with his cousin, because with Yugi he felt as though there were no problems in the world.

His cousin looked up again and waved at him to come down and join him. Atem smiled and shook his head, his cousin's smile faded and Atem looked away as Yugi started to pout, he held out for a minute before he looked down and sighed. Yugi continued to pout until Atem sighed and motioned that he would be right down. Yugi smiled and tapped the spot next to him on the bench and smiled once again before Atem vanished from the window.

He sighed and pulled his purple cloak off the wall and draped it over his shoulders, he wasn't in the mood to do much of anything, but when Yugi gave anyone his puppy face it was hard for anyone to say no. As he exited his room he looked around up and down the hall, there wasn't anyone out at the moment; he drew his hood up over his head. All the same, when someone did come by he didn't want to be singled out.

He moved down the stairs step by step slowly, stopping and pressing up against the wall each time a guard passed so as not to be noticed as much. Although most would assume that a cloaked purple figure would be easily picked out, but amazingly he was actually less suspicious this way then he was without the hood. The guards had been trained to spot Yugi and his own odd hair style a mile away so as to prevent danger from befalling them.

As he reached the lower floor he took a quick left and slipped out the door that led to the garden, as he tapped against the wall he felt something sharp stab into his chest. He looked down to see the millennium puzzle glittering around his neck. He looked around quickly to make sure no one was watching before her secured his cloak tighter around his body, no one must see the puzzle. That was what he had been told upon receiving it; never let anyone see it unless he knew that he could trust them.

After making sure that the cloak was secured tightly he opened the door to the outside and stepped out into the garden. Yugi looked over and frowned, Atem waved and pulled down his hood. "It's alright Yugi, it's just me."

His cousin's face lit up, "Atem!" He ran over and they embraced. Atem smiled as he felt Yugi's smaller body pressed up against his own, he enjoyed spending time with the younger teen a lot, in fact Atem sometimes found that when he was down Yugi was the bright light of his day. He sighed and leaned his head back against the top of the bench. He had closed his eyes for only a second, the sun's rays warming his face, "Oh!"

He paused and frowned, his eyes still closed, "Are you alright Yugi?" When the boy didn't answer he frowned and opened his eyes, Yugi was looking at him his eyes wide. Atem frowned and started to ask what was bothering the other boy when a flash of light caught him in the eye, he frowned and looked down to see what had made the flash and caught sight of the puzzle in clear view. His eyes widened and he shoved it back under his cloak, then looked around to make sure that no one else had seen it.

Yugi's eyes were huge as he looked at Atem's cloak, as though the object inside was some sort of magical object that only existed in fairy tales. Atem paused and looked at his cousin considering why he had such an expression. Suddenly it hit him; of course Yugi had never actually seen the millennium items! He had only met his cousin for the first time when Gozaburo had taken the throne, and by then the priests had all left, or as he had been told, killed.

He looked again towards Yugi, who had remained rooted to the stop and hadn't moved a muscle. "Yugi, are you alright?"

Yugi remained ridged, "What is that thing?"

Atem looked fearfully around, "Yugi, I'll tell you what it is, but you have to promise not to tell anyone! It's very important!" His cousin nodded and Atem sighed, "Do you remember several years ago when I ran out in the middle of that raid on the palace?" His cousin nodded and Atem looked away, "Well I ran into an old friend, and he gave me this."

Yugi and Atem both looked at the glittering puzzle half hidden under his cloak; Yugi looked up at him and whispered, "Is that what I think it is?"

Atem looked just past him, "That depends on what you think it is…"

He paused as his cousin looked first at the puzzle then at him, "It's one of those millennium items my father was talking about wasn't it?"

Atem nodded, "It's called the millennium puzzle, it belonged to my father."

Yugi blinked and took the puzzle in his hands, "It's so interesting, but how did your father get it?"

Atem sighed, "I actually don't remember when or how he got the puzzle. I can't even remember much about the priests that used to serve my father in general."

"Priests?" Yugi looked confused,

Atem smiled, "There were seven priests that used to serve my father, they used the millennium items to keep peace."

Yugi blinked, "So what happened to them?"

Atem looked away, "Well… Uh…" He looked to see Yugi frowning at him, "I… don't exactly know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Yugi said frowning still, "You don't know anything?"

Atem shuffled his foot, "I suppose I might know something, just not exactly…"

"Atem." The other boy looked up to see Yugi sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, "Just tell me the truth."

Atem sighed, "Sometime after your father took over they all left." He blinked, "I don't know where they went, but I did see two of them four years ago in that battle."

Yugi's frown faded and he looked concernedly at his cousin, "And one of them was your friend right?"

Atem nodded, "Yes, Mahado was there."

Yugi watched his cousin sadly stare at the ground, there had to be something that he could do to cheer him up. He looked over to see the chess board sitting on the table, his eyes lit up. "Oh!"

Atem looked over as Yugi set it in front of them, "Atem, I challenge you to a game of chess!"

Atem raised an eyebrow in Yugi's direction. "You're challenging me."

The boy nodded, "Yep, unless your too scared."

Atem smiled, "Don't make me laugh Yugi, of course I'll take you on."

Yugi returned the grin, "Let's get started then." He moved a pawn forward, "Your move your highness."

Atem smiled and moved a pawn of his own forward, "Now it's yours."

The game progressed for a long while, each one moving their pieces against the others. But it soon became apparent that Atem was quickly gaining the upper hand, and although Yugi fought back bravely he just couldn't keep up with his cousin. Finally Atem moved his last piece forward, "Checkmate." He smiled as Yugi's serious expression broke into a smile.

"Nice move Atem." He sighed, leaned back on the bench and looked up into the clouds, "I lost again."

Atem surveyed the board, "True, but you're getting better."

Yugi's eyes brightened, "You really mean that!?"

Atem nodded, "Of course I do."

"Prince Atem!" Both boys turned to see a palace guard walking towards them across the garden. "The pharaoh wishes to meet with you at once."

Atem smiled towards Yugi, the boy's face fell and he looked down and nudged the ground with his foot. "I'll be back again Yugi." The boy looked up as Atem smiled again, "We'll play again later." Then he nodded to the guard and rose to his feet and tightened his cloak around his body, the puzzle safely within its folds. Then he started to follow him back across the garden and into the palace.

He stepped through the door and into the dimly lit hall, as they walked he felt the puzzle swinging and thumping against his chest. He looked up at the guard, "Why has my uncle summoned me?"

The guard kept his eyes fixed firmly forward, "I do not know my prince. He told no one, and wants only to meet with you alone."

Atem frowned and looked down along the passage, him alone? That wasn't necessarily a good sign, the last time his uncle had done that things hadn't good very well. He frowned again, now that he thought about it every time he met with his uncle things didn't turn out well in the end. The two of them never seemed to agree on courses of action, and in the end his uncle always ended it with his way; even if it meant someone getting hurt.

He frowned as they reached the large doors leading to the throne room; perhaps that was why Mahado and the others left. The guard knocked on the door, "My pharaoh, we brought the prince."

He heard his uncle's voice boom from inside the room. "Send him in."

Atem nodded to the guards as the large doors opened, one of them bowed, "Good luck my prince."

"Thank you." Atem said nodding, and as he entered the room he muttered under his breath, "I'm afraid I'm going to need it." Then as he vanished into the hall the doors shut behind him.

Yugi sighed and looked at the chess board; he wasn't in the mood to play alone. He left the game where it was and slipped into the dim hall that Atem and the guard had vanished into only a few minutes before. He'd just go up to his room to find something to do until his father was done with Atem, then they could play again. He blinked and frowned as the tunnel branched, now which way was it, right or left?

He paused; right… at least he thought it was right. He shrugged and started down the right path, I he was wrong he was wrong; at least it gave him something to do. He took off down the darker path, but soon realized that this wasn't the way to his room. As he continued he felt that something about the hall told him to go back, go the other way to his room; but his curiosity had gotten the best of him, he had to know what was down here.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs he noticed that the walls had become rougher and less well kept as the other walls of the building. He rounded the corner to see a barred prison cell. Yugi squealed and pressed his back up against the wall, he was in the prison! He knew that he should turn back and go to his room like he hand originally planned, but something kept his attention here.

He continued down the hall looking in at each cell, the inhabitants looked up at him. Some glared at him while others pleaded with their eyes. He looked away from each one, slowly making his way down the hall cell by cell. When he could see the end of the hall he started to turn back, until he saw a small hand sticking out from between the bars. He gasped and moved towards it and as he passed the wall dividing the current cell from the last one, he saw her.

She was about his own age; with brown hair that hung about shoulder length and sprayed out in all directions. On top of her matted hair was a tan cloth headband that was completely covered in mud, dirt and grime. He bent over to examine a red spot on the cloth, its rich dark color almost made him think it was… he gasped and recoiled, blood! She stirred under his touch and slowly blinked open her bright green eyes. She caught sight of him and recoiled further back into the cell, her eyes wide, "Don't move!"

He froze and gazed into those large green eyes, the eyes that were fixed o him, the eyes that were wide, fearful, and yet determined. "Don't take another step! Or I'll…I'll blast you!"

He continued to stare into her green eyes; did she just say that she would blast him? But to do something like that would involve the use of…, his eyes widened, magic! This girl must be a magician!

"Ha!" Yugi turned around to see a guard laughing, "I'd like to see you do anything without your stick."

The girl's green eyes narrowed, "It's not a stick!"

The palace guard shrugged, "Well princess, forgive me for insulting your wand."

Yugi saw her hands tighten into fists, "It's not a wand either, it's my staff!"

The guard paused, "Truthfully I wonder if we still have it, if it was up to me we would have tossed it years ago."

The girl slammed herself against the cell bars creating a loud clang, Yugi recoiled at the loud sound, and even the guard looked slightly shocked. "You'd best not have done anything with my staff!" Yugi noticed tears were running down her cheeks, "My master gave me that staff! If you've done anything to it then I'll… I'll…!" Her threat was cut short as she crumpled to the ground, red faced with tears running down her cheeks.

The guard scoffed and started down the hall, "Stupid witch."

Yugi looked after him, trying to decide whether or not to follow. He looked aback to see the girl still curled up in a ball on the floor near the middle of the wall. He looked over one last time to see the guard vanish around the corner down at the end of the hall, then he sank to his knees near the cell, "Are you alright?"

She didn't respond, but he noticed that she had stopped crying and was wiping tears away from her eyes. He decided to try again, "So you're a magician?"

She glared up at him, "What's it to you if I am?"

Yugi blinked, his friendly smile fading, he hadn't expected such a harsh remark. He didn't want to hurt her, perhaps he should take it slower. "I don't want to hurt you." She looked up at him nervously, but she didn't seem quite so angry, he continued, "I'm not your enemy, but I would like to be your friend."

Her eyes widened, and as she spoke he heard the uncertainty in her voice. "You really mean that?"

Yugi smiled and nodded, "Of course, I don't lie to my friends."

"So I'm…I'm your friend?" She said the last part hesitantly.

Yugi smiled, "I am if you want me to be."

She smiled, "I'd like that, I really would."

Yugi blinked in confusion as tears started to run down her cheeks, "Why are you crying? Are you alright?"

She nodded, wiping the tears away, "Yeas, it's just… it's been so long since I could call anyone my friend."

Yugi's smile faded, "Have you never had a friend before?"  
>She nodded and looked at the ground, "I did…but's it been so long, and I don't know if they remember me or if they've forgotten, or if their…" She didn't finish her sentence as she looked back over at him.<p>

He noticed a small smile form on her lips as she watched him. "I'm sure they remember, you strike me as someone who's hard to forget."

She blushed, "My master always said the same thing."

"I learned it from my cousin Atem." Yugi said his face colored with the same red tint.

"Is he someone that's hard to forget?" She asked quietly, "I know my master is."

Yugi nodded and stared at the ceiling, "I'll never forget him, I know that."

"Where is he now?" She moved over and leaned against the wall right next to the bars.

"He's not dead if that's what you mean. He's upstairs talking to my father."

"The pharaoh." She muttered darkly.

"Yep." Yugi said nodding, then he smiled again in her direction until a though crossed his mind, he hardly knew anything about her much less her name.

She sighed, "If he's your father, you're the prince. Correct your highness?"

Yugi made a face, "Actually Atem's the prince, it was his father who was the pharaoh, but yeah I suppose I am a prince. Sort of." He drew in a breath, he'd learned that the best way to meet anyone was to first learn their name, and he could start with his own. He extended his hand through the bars, "I don't think I've introduced myself, I'm Yugi."

The girl looked surprised; she hesitated for a second then took his hand and shook it, "I'm Mana."

Yugi smiled, "Mana? I like it."

She smiled, "Thanks."

Yugi looked away sheepishly, and Mana looked down at the cell floor and started tracing circles in the dirt with her finger. Yugi watched her a minute before asking, "Hey Mana?"

She looked up, "Yeah?"

"How long have you been down here?"

She bit her lip, "I was careless and got myself caught when the resistance was assaulting the palace." She looked embarrassed, "I tried to get away, but I just couldn't."

Yugi looked shocked, "By the last time they tried anything like that was four years ago."

She started tracing circles again, "Yeah, my master told me not come, he said that it was too dangerous and that I was too young. But I didn't listen. I should of though, then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess." She looked up and smiled, "Of course if I hadn't disobeyed him then I wouldn't have met you either."

Yugi smiled, "Well I'm glad you did." His eyes widened, "Not disobey your master I mean! Just get capture so that you could meet me!"

"So you're glad I got capture?" She frowned.

"Gah! No! No! I didn't mean it like that! It's just that…!" He bent over and knocked his face into the ground. Mana started giggling and Yugi looked and frowned, "What?"

She smiled, "I'm glad I was captured too." She paused then added, "So could I see you again sometime?"

Yugi cocked his head, "Huh?"

"I mean after today, it's so lonely down here and…"

Yugi smiled, "Sure! Is there anything you want?"

"I'd like some paper if it wouldn't be so much trouble."

"Wouldn't the guards catch you with it though? I mean as far as I know they don't like the prisoners having things."

Mana reached down and removed several stones from the floor creating a small hole, "I can store it down here." She drew out necklace, "My master gave it to me." She dropped it back into the whole and covered it, "I would have hidden my staff down there too, but they took that right away." Her smile vanished, "They better not have done anything with it."

"My uncle doesn't let them destroy weapons without his permission." He said reassuringly, "I'm sure it's still around."

She shrugged, "If he did do something with it…well, I guess I deal with that if it happens."

"My prince!" Yugi turned to see a guard standing down the hall; he wasn't one that Yugi was familiar with. Maybe he was new; he wore a red headband with a black diamond pattern. Sections of his black hair hung over the band and down into his face, he had the rest pulled back into a pony tail behind his head. He wore the traditional guardsman uniform, but Yugi didn't think it looked right with his green eyes. "My prince, your father wishes to see you at once."

Yugi sighed and looked at Mana, the girl was doodling in the dirt again, "I'll come again I promise."

She nodded still staring at the ground, but she didn't look fully convinced. Yugi sighed and rose to his feet; the guard had reached him and was looking curiously at Mana. If he was thinking anything he didn't say it, instead he turned to face Yugi, "Shall we go?"

Yugi nodded and followed him down the hall. Yugi looked over his shoulder once to stare at Mana, but the girl had retreated to the back of her cell, once again drawing in the dirt with her finger. Soon though, she was out of sight.

Yugi continued up the steps, but he vowed to her silently. I promise Mana, I'll be back, just wait for me. He and the new guard walked down the hall to the throne room. The doors were closed; the guard hesitated for a moment before he knocked. "I only wish to be disturbed if it is my son." The voice boomed from within the hall.

The guard flinched and pulled the door open, Yugi smiled and nodded in his direction. "Thank you." The guard however did not return the smile and kept his eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Yugi sighed and entered the room, the guard shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>Azzure- It's so quite without Malik around, I should go find him. But before I do, please follow the two R's. So please Read and Review while I go find a certain stubborn blond Egyptian.<p> 


	3. Tasks and Secrets

Azzure-Hey Malik, long time no see.

Malik-Yeah, yeah, yeah can we get the disclaimer over with please? I have other things to do.

Azzure-Sure, whenever you want. Actually I do have a question about…

Malik-Azzure does not own Yu-gi-oh. Now what were you saying quick please I'm looking for someone to help me with disclaimers

Azzure-Yes, about that; what I was going to tell you, was that I got a message from someone who was considering working with you.

Malik-Yes! I'm going to check in on this. Do you need anything else?

Azzure-Nope, in fact I was just going to put up the chapter.

Malik-Alright bye.

Azzure-And with that I give you the newest chapter of Two Egyptian Princes.

Atem

Atem scribbled furiously on the pages of a book, all the while listening to the report being presented by a soldier to his uncle Gozaburo. If he was to someday run this country then he had to know how it worked, even down to brief army reports, that was what his uncle had taught him and that's what he planned to do. His uncle had been the father figure in his life for several years now, and although he did not always agree with his uncle's judgment he had learned that it was best to listen to it. After all it wasn't as though he had anyone else that could teach him.

Well no one except for perhaps his father's old advisor, Shimon, he was the only member the high court that still remained from the court of his own father. All the others had left and supposedly been reported dead, but Atem knew otherwise. Or he knew otherwise as of four years ago, he hadn't heard any reports concerning the priests since then.

He turned his attention back to the conversation at hand; the soldier was reporting the dull results of another patrol of the desert area, and he was taking notes not because he wanted to rather because he would someday be king and he would need to know what to do in certain situations; including addressing boring patrols that took place day after day.

He leafed through his notes, there was a minor war meeting after all the reports that would lead to a larger one tomorrow.

It wasn't as though he couldn't understand his notes; well…he couldn't understand all of them. He had tried to ask his uncle the questions he had about the conversations in meetings, but he just didn't understand what Atem didn't know. So that's why when Atem had turned to Shimon for help.

He had first bumped into him after a meeting three years ago when he was taking a large stack of notes to the library to attempt to translate into something he could understand. His papers had been thrown all over the floor, he had apologies numerous times but Shimon had helped him pick them up all the same. He had asked what Atem was trying to do, and been quite happy with his enthusiasm for learning. He had then offered to tutor Atem on his notes, the boy had agree since had had been having trouble learning them by himself. Since then his understanding of strategy had greatly increased, much to his uncle's pleasure. If Gozaburo himself knew of the extra training he never said anything about it, or perhaps he didn't care.

As he looked up to see the soldier leaving he opened to a fresh page, now for the minor meeting after that he would go talk to Shimon. Normally the two of them met at the beginning and end of the weeks but because of the meeting tomorrow Atem wanted an extra lesson just to assure himself he knew what would be discussed. He briefly heard Gozaburo summon a guard to go find Yugi, a small smile crossed his lips. His cousin wouldn't enjoy that summon, his father had been trying to get him into strategy for some time now, the boy came to the meetings he had to, but otherwise spent time doing his own things.

He looked up once again as the doors opened to let in a few soldiers that would be briefing the selected members of the council. He sighed and titled his new sheet before he heard the door open and again and Yugi's voice politely thanking the guard. He smiled as his young cousin first to his father then sat down beside Atem at a table situated slightly right of the throne.

As he settled in the chair he looked at Atem and whispered, "So what's going on?"

Atem looked over at the other table at the other selected members, "Prewar meeting." Yugi groaned and Atem patted him on the shoulder, "It won't be that bad. Since he made you come to this one he probably won't make you come to the actual meeting tomorrow."

Yugi folded his arms on the table and set his head in them, "Yeah, but this is bad enough."

Atem shrugged and opened his mouth to speak again when Gozaburo's voice echoed in the room, "Thank you all for coming." He instead turned his attention to the floor where the first soldier had stepped forward.

"I have a report my pharaoh." He said very stiffly.

Gozaburo nodded, "Very well, continue."

"This past week we sent several patrols into the territory at the edge of the desert." He paused as though to see if Gozaburo meant to interrupt, when he didn't he continued. "Out of the twenty patrols we've sent in the last two months, six have been ambushed by the enemy forces. After each attack we've sent a force after them, but even with our best trackers we couldn't trace them far into the desert."

Atem made a few notes and looked over at his uncle, the man was frowning but not just at the news, he was also glaring in Atem's direction. Atem looked startled and turned his attention desperately to his notes, but he continued to feel Gozaburo's glare burning a hole in his skull. He glanced up repeatedly until he noticed his uncle wasn't staring at him but rather next to him. He looked over by tilting his head ever so slightly and caught sight of Yugi lying asleep on the table. So that was what was making his uncle mad, he looked over to find his uncle glaring at him as if to say, do something.

Atem looked back at him and shrugged, he mentally spoke though he knew that his uncle couldn't understand him. _What do you want me to do?_

_ Come to me._ The voice was soft and feminine, but he hadn't ever heard it before. He jumped and hit Yugi with his elbow; the boy stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

"Atem?" He whispered his name as he sat up, Atem noticed that Gozaburo had turned his attention back to the meeting. "I fell asleep didn't I?" Yugi asked quietly.

Atem nodded and focused his attention back on his notes, "Just try and stay awake." Yugi nodded, his eyes were half closed as he leaned over on his hand.

Atem tried to focus on his notes but he couldn't get over the voice in his head, who was he? Or rather she, it sounded like a girl. But what did she want with him? _Hello?_ He thought silently. _Are you still there?_

_ Come to me my prince._ Her voice came again, but he still couldn't recognize her.

_Who are you? How do you know who I am? And what do you want with me?_ He asked once again,

_Everything will be explained in time, but first you must come to me._

It seemed that she wasn't going to give away any secrets, so he decided to play along with her to try and answer some of his questions. _Where can I find you?_

_Come to me._

He frowned, _how can I go to you if I don't know where to find you._

_Just come to me and you'll learn everything that you want to know._

_ Everything?_ He commented, in his mind that was a bit farfetched to be true, unless of course there was some kind of a catch to the matter.

_Well, not everything, but you get my point._

There was a slight pause before Atem asked. _So what is it that you will be telling me?_

_Look I've told you too much as it is…just come to me alright?_

Atem frowned, _But how…_

_ Just come! _She sounded slightly annoyed, that is if thoughts in someone's head could have emotions attached to them.

Atem himself was losing his composure, as well of his like for this game. _I'd love to come to you, but I need to know where you are to do so._

_Just come._

_But…!_ He started to say.

_Atem!_

Atem gasped silently as he heard his name, _How!_

_Come._

_ But…!_ He started again.

_No buts! Just come._

_ How am I supposed to do that!_ He practically screamed aloud, but there was no response. _Hello? Hello!_ He sighed and started scribbling on his paper as he tried to catch up on the conversation, so much for learning anything. He glanced up see Gozaburo glaring in his direction; he looked over to see Yugi back asleep on the table.

He sighed and nudged his cousin again, the boy sat up quickly again, but after a few minutes he once again looked as though he was going to fall asleep. So for the next half of the small meeting Atem would nudge his cousin awake every five minutes or so after receiving glares from his uncle.

After about the twelfth time Atem quietly tore a blank sheet of paper from his notes and set it on the table before Yugi. The boy looked at him, clearly confused, but Atem had turned his attention back to his notes. He saw Yugi watch for a while the begin scribbling on his own page. As Atem turned the page Yugi tapped his shoulder as if asking for another sheet. He passed the sheet to the boy and noticed Gozaburo watching them; he shrugged and continued to take notes.

He had filled up several more sheets of paper before the meeting had ended. As everyone started filing out of the hall he turned and nudged Yugi, "Meetings over."

"One second." Yugi muttered, still hunched over the paper.

"I never knew you were so enthusiastic about taking notes." Atem commented while debating whether or not to tell Yugi about the voice he had heard in his mind.

"Oh…well I'm not exactly…it's just that…" Yugi stuttered several times as he attempted to find the right words. "You see it's actually…"

Atem crossed his arms over his chest, "What are you doing Yugi?"

His cousin held up the page to reveal three to four pages of random drawings and other doodles, Atem had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. So that's what Yugi had been doing, he had thought it was odd for his cousin to suddenly take an interest in notes. "I should have expected it."

"You really thought I was taking notes?" Yugi asked.

"It was a logical guess based on the situation." Atem replied as the two of them left the throne room and the doors boomed shut behind them.

Yugi's laughter filled the hall and caused Atem to smile, he loved it when his cousin laughed. It was such a sweet innocent sound and it never ceased to make his day better. "So you really thought I was taking notes?"

"As odd as it sounds, yes I really did." Yugi laughed again and Atem opened his mouth to continue but he was interrupted.

"My prince?" The two of them turned to see a girl standing a few feet away, she bowed to Atem then turned to Yugi, "My mistress wanted to know if…"

She jumped as someone set their hand on her shoulder, "You can head back to the kitchen darling, I'll handle things here." The girl bowed once then hurried quickly down the hall. As she vanished around the corner Atem turned his attention to the new woman. She wasn't someone he had seen a lot although he could say that he had seen her before. She was tall, or at least taller than he was, with blond hair that ran down to the lower part of her back. She stood with her hands on her hips and a confident expression in her purple eyes; he looked over to see Yugi blushing at her. She folded her arms over her chest and smiled at him, "So are you coming to help me cook dinner or not kid?"

Yugi looked over at Atem, his face was beet red and Atem could only bit his lip to stop himself from laughing aloud. "I'm sorry Atem, but I agreed to help Mai and the other cooks with dinner, because of my lessons… you know... and I know you said we could hang out after the meeting but…"

Atem smiled and cut him off, "It's fine Yugi, go and have your cooking lesson. We can hang out again after dinner."

A smile of relief crossed Yugi's face, "So you're not mad?"

"No Yugi."

The boy relaxed and turned to Mai, "Alright I'm ready."

Mai smiled and started down the hall with Yugi on her heels, the boy turned down the next hall that would eventually lead him to the kitchen, but Mai paused and turned back to look at Atem, "By the way darling, Shimon said that he wanted a word with you if you had a few minutes." Then she turned around and headed down the hall.

Atem's eyes widened at the mention of Shimon's name, he was going to visit the old advisor after the meeting and had completely forgot. And yet somehow Mai had known to remind him, how? He shook his head, it was probably nothing, after all she had said that Shimon wanted to see him. Hadn't she? It was probably just an odd coincidence that Shimon wanted to talk to him exactly when he wanted to talk to Shimon. Yes, it was definitely just a coincidence… not.

He sighed and started down the hall to the old advisor's room, at least he could get help on his notes if nothing else. But another part of his mind was wondering, what was it that Shimon wanted to talk to him about?

Yugi

"What happened to those peaches! Somebody check on that bread, I don't want it burned! And where on earth is that meat!" Yugi flinched as Mai's loud shouts filled the air, all around him the kitchen was in complete chaos.

One girl raced passed him with a bowl of peaches, "Right here Miss Kujaku!" She tripped over one of the legs of the chair that Yugi was standing on so that he could reach the high counter where the spices were located. He reacted quickly and reached back to catch the bowl edge, the girl regained her footing and took the bowl from Yugi with a nod. "Thank you my prince." Then she hurried and took the bowl to Mai.

Yugi continued to put the seasonings and herbs on his salad as he listened to Mai's conversation. "Alright we have the peaches, and the bread is good to go. Now all we have to worry about is the meat. So where is it?"

"It hasn't been delivered yet." Yugi looked over to see the boy next to him speaking, "We haven't gotten any of the delivery this morning."

"Wheeler's late again!" Mai was clearly annoyed, "I'm going to kill him!"

"Kill who?" Yugi turned to look over at the door; the delivery door was open to reveal a blond haired boy about his age standing with a basket slung over his shoulder. "What's got your hair in a twist now Mai?"

"Katsuya Jonouchi, you're late as usual." The boy next to Yugi muttered again.

The boy, Jonouchi, glared in his direction, "Shut up you." Then he turned to Mai, "I wasn't that late was I Mai?"

The woman scowled at him, "I have two things to say to you Wheeler, one its Miss Kujaku, not Mai. And two…" She snatched the bag out of his hands and tossed to one of the girls, "If you had come any later we wouldn't have had a meal ready for the pharaoh, and you don't want to know how that would have turned out." She turned around to observe the girl who had taken control of the meat, "Get it started over there dear."

Jonouchi sighed, "Look Mai…"

Mai turned halfway, "Who?"

His blond hair fell into his eyes and he scowled as he brushed it away, "Look Mai, this really isn't the time for…"

"Who Wheeler?"

The boy frowned, "Mai this really isn't…"

"I'm afraid I don't know who you're talking about."

"Ugh…" He groaned and frowned, he didn't speak for several minutes before he finally exploded, "Fine! Miss Kujaku?"

Mai turned, a large smirk drawn across her face, "Yes Wheeler?"

Jonouchi glared at her, "I hate you."

Mai grinned, "I assume you wanted to tell me more than that dear."

Jonouchi sighed and grunted, "So will you go out with me now?"

Mai didn't even stop to consider, "Nope."

Jonouchi's brown eyes widened and he started to whine, "Oh come on Mai! Please!"

"Calling me Mai is one of the things keeping me from going out with you, so no."

"You mean if I stop calling you Mai you'll go out with me?" The whining instantly cut from his voice.

"Did I mention that it was only one problem out of many? You're gonna have to seriously clean up your act if you want me to go out with you."

"Clean up my act!" He looked shocked, even slightly mad, "What do ya mean by that Mai?"

"Exactly what I said Joey. You're too loud, compulsive, aggravating, nosey, and just plain obnoxious."

"Obnoxious! Loud! Aggravating! Oh come on Mai!"

Mai smiled and waved at him, "Face it, your chances are slim to nothing around me."

"Please!"

"No"

"Please!"

"Absolutely not!"

"No!"

"Oh come on please!"

"For the last time no." She waved at him, "And you can get out of my kitchen while you're at it."

Joey frowned, "Awww come on. Pleeease?"

Mai rolled her eyes, "For the last time, not a chance. Now out."

Jonouchi ran up behind her and grabbed onto her arm, "No, you have to go out with me! I"ll die without you!"

Mai rolled her eyes, "Sure you will, that's exactly what you said last time too." She shoved at him and knocked him off on the floor next to where Yugi was working.

Jonouchi glared at her and turned to one of the other girls, "What about you good looking? You want to go out with me?"

There was a clang as Mai hit him over the head with a frying pan, knocking him back down onto the ground "And don't be flirting with my kitchen girls either or I'll definitely throw you out."

He stood up and rubbed and his head as he glared at her, then he looked over and caught sight of Yugi who was trying to make himself as unsuspicious as possible. "Who's this?"

Mai grabbed his arm and dragged him away, "I wouldn't be messing with the prince if I was you. You don't want to go see the pharaoh because you were messing with his son."

"You can't be serious about that; you're just using it as an excuse so that I don't mess with him. He's not really the prince."

Mai opened the door and shrugged, "Believe what you want." Then she shoved him outside, "You can think about what you want to believe as you go home." She leaned out to catch sight of him hit the ground with a thud, "And send Miss Tea in the morning, I don't want to have to deal with you."

He groaned, "Alright, it's her turn anyway." He started towards his bike and turned back at the last minute, "So will you…?"

"Once again, not a chance." Mai replied before slamming the door in his face and walking back over to one of the tables and sighing, "He'll never learn."

"Who was that?" Yugi asked as Mai came over to inspect his salad.

The woman sighed and brushed her hair out of her face, "His name is Katsuya Jonouchi, also known to some as Joey. He's in charge of delivering meat from the shops in town to the castle."

"I don't remember ever seeing him before." Yugi commented,

Mai sighed, "He splits the job with a few others in town; mainly another boy, Tristan Hiroto Honda, and Miss Anzu Tea Mazaki." She reached down a plucked a lettuce leaf from the bowl, "We also normally get the deliveries earlier in the morning, when you normally aren't working." She popped the leaf into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, "Needs more dressing."

Yugi reached for the bottle and asked, "If his name is Jonouchi then why did you call him Wheeler?"

Mai smiled, "You saw his bike right?" Yugi nodded and she continued, "Well he got the nickname from how fast he goes on that thing, you wouldn't believe that it could even go that fast." She shrugged, "Anyway, it's just a nickname. Some of us use it, some others don't it's all personal taste."

Yugi looked down at his work, "Does he like you?"

Mai leaned on the counter and looked over at him, "I don't know truly, he keeps asking me out though I'll keep turning him down. Why?"

Yugi's face turned red, "N..no reason!" He replied hurriedly.

Mai turned to leave, "Whatever you say honey, now if you would excuse me I have other things to check on, like that meat for one thing."

Yugi smiled as Mai headed over to chew out a group of workers on the far side of the room who weren't doing anything. It was relaxing to work in the kitchen, even if his father didn't approve of it. And after dinner he could look forward to spending time with his cousin, but before tomorrow he had to remember to track down some paper. Yes, lots and lots of paper.

Atem

Atem walked up the stairs to the highest floor of the castle, carefully placing each foot firmly on the next step; it was a long way to fall back down. No one was quite sure why Shimon lived at the top of the castle, some people said he had a strange obsession with birds; but Atem didn't believe it, Shimon was a little strange, but he wasn't that odd. As he reached the top he looked down either side and caught sight of no one anyway in the hall. He started down the left passage and paused when he came face to face with a door at the end of the hall.

He held up his hand and knocked softly, his notes clung tightly to his chest. When no one answered he knocked again only slightly louder. After no one answered once again he pressed his ear to the door, perhaps he was asleep or out of the room. He held his breath and closed his eyes as he tried to feel a vibration of through the door.

He was about to give up and leave when he heard a voice on the other side. "We've lost only two so far, and removed nearly eighty of them." He frowned, that definitely was not Shimon. It was higher and more feminine, but it wasn't the voice he had heard in his head earlier in the meeting.

He was about to turn away and tear down the stairs to find the guards when he heard Shimon's voice, "Good, are you sure none of you were caught?" Caught? Atem wondered, caught doing what?

The strange woman's voice spoke again, "I'm sure, they keep careful track. If we were missing even one of them he'd let us know immediately."

"Good." It was Shimon's voice again, "I was worried since his sacrifice that he couldn't handle the task, but he seems to know exactly what he needs to do."

There were a few moments of silence and Atem clenched his hands into fists to resist the urge to race down the stairs, Shimon was up to something. Something he didn't think his uncle would approve of. "So how are they getting along?"

His eyes widened and he pressed his head against the door. It was a good thing too, because Shimon's reply was very soft. "They're doing well nothing odd has happened yet?" Odd? What odd things are they talking about? And who are these odd things supposed to happen to?  
>"So they still have no idea?" She commented.<p>

He could see Shimon shaking his head, "No, they are as oblivious as ever." He frowned, who was oblivious to what?

He heard a frustrated sigh, "You can't keep it a secret from them forever. Sooner or later they have to know."

"They aren't ready to know!" Shimon's voice sounded fearful and nervous.

"You can't continue to protect them from a part of their life Shimon. One of them met him four years ago for a reason, you can't deny that." Atem frowned, who were they protecting? And what was Shimon trying to protect them from?

"I'll…I'll talk to them. Just give me another few weeks."

"You'll talk to the one who met him next week."

"That's too soon."

"They're all on the end of their patience Shimon, a week is all I'm going to be able to give you. Any longer than that and you'll have to deal with the six of them yourself." She sighed, "I really don't want to do this to you, but they have to know. We can't get any further without them."

Shimon sighed, "I understand, one more week and I'll talk with the pharaoh's son." Yugi? Atem gasped, what did Shimon and this stranger want with Yugi?

"Very well, I'll get you your last week. Just remember our deal."

"I will."

Atem got the feeling that the conversation was ending, and if he wanted to find out anything about this stranger he had to act fast. He quietly opened Shimon's door and started inside as though he was just here for lessons. "Shimon! I'm here."

He heard mad fluttering as he continued, "Shimon? Where are you?"

Shimon's course whisper could be heard from the next room, "Go quickly! I'll send word later!"

"Shimon? Are you here?" He entered the room just quick enough to see a pair of white wings flutter out the window. Perhaps the bird theory wasn't as farfetched as he thought. Shimon himself was sitting in an armchair on the other side of the room; he had a book on his lap and was reading peacefully as though nothing odd had happened.

He looked up as Atem entered, "Ah Prince Atem, it's good to see you."

Atem smiled, though the thoughts in his mind were racing. He wanted to ask Shimon who he was talking to, but didn't want to give away that he had been listening in on the conversation. "Master Shimon." He said with a bow, then after a few seconds pause he added, "I thought that I heard you talking to someone."

Shimon shook his head, "Just the birds, young one." As if on cue a small yellow bird flew in the window and settled on Shimon's shoulder. The older man smiled at it, "And here he is now." He gestured to the chair across from him, "Have a seat and let's take a look at those notes."

Atem nodded, sat down in the chair, and set his notes on the table; Shimon sat up and placed his book on the table as well. Shimon was one of the older members of the palace, his hair was very much like his own or Yugi's but kept contained under the man's larger blue hat and a gray color instead of their own more vibrant shades of yellow and red. He folded his hands in his lap and waited expectantly for Atem to hand him the first sheet. Atem handed him the paper and he scanned it with his eyes, "So what happened today?"

Atem sighed and leaned back in the chair, "The usual, stared out reminding everyone what happened at the last meeting, then they went over reports, crops, and patrols."

"Patrol reports? So how are those keeping up?" Shimon kept his gaze fixed on the paper.

Atem shrugged, "Nothing different I guess, nothing happens to any of them except those that journey towards the edge of the desert. They never come back untouched, always completely removed or with only one or two people left alive with no memory of what happened."

Shimon nodded, "And who do you think is doing it?"

Atem sighed, "It's obviously the resistance, no one else ever attacks our people like that." When Shimon raised an eyebrow he added, "And the only other possible threat would come from the north, our enemies wouldn't circle all the way around just to try and attack from behind. If they were that good they would just hit us from their side. Also the guards would have noticed them should they have tried coming around."

Shimon nodded, "Very good my young pupil." He studied the notes. "But would we do if it was our enemies from the north."

"But it's highly illogical that…" Atem started.

Shimon raised his hand and Atem stopped speaking, "I didn't say that it was logical, but what if it was."

Atem frowned, "Then I suppose the first thing for us to do would be to send patrols out to the east and west to break off their supply caravans." Shimon nodded and he continued, "Then we should scout areas in the desert to try and determine the exact location of their camp."

Shimon nodded, "But what if their supply lines are out of our reach?"

Atem bit his lip and frowned, "Then I suppose we would have to find some other way of sabotaging them." Shimon started to laugh and Atem frowned, "What?"

"You have improved tremendously since we started these lessons my prince, you will make a fine pharaoh someday." Then he reached down and picked up another sheet, "Now let's roll back a bit and return to what seems to be the problem. First of all let's see what you know. Who is attacking our people?"

"The resistance." Atem replied confidently.

"That is the most logical answer yes, very good." Shimon said nodding, "Now how are they attacking us?"

Atem sighed, "They're attacking the patrols we're sending along the desert border, they use ambush tactics so that we can't see them before they strike and then finish us off quickly before we can see who they are. That's why they're so hard to identify."

"Good." Shimon said nodding, "And the other reason."

Atem frowned and bit his lip in concentration, "They wear dark cloaks that cover their faces and prevent us from identifying them. Correct?"

Shimon nodded again, "Indeed, now for a slightly harder question, why?"

Atem frowned, "Why what?"

"What are their motives for attacking us?" Shimon asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Atem said frowning, "And why should I care?"

"You must remember Atem; a pharaoh is responsible for protecting his people. That means that he has to work out differences with those that disagree with him. If he doesn't know what the disagreement concerns he cannot solve it." He leaned back in his chair, "So I shall ask again, what motives do they have for attacking us?"

Atem shook his head, "I don't know."

"Very well, then we shall take the question piece by piece. First we must know who we are dealing with. So who makes up the resistance?"  
>Atem paused and thought carefully before answering, "The resistance is made up of the shadow creatures and the priests of the Millennium items."<p>

"And who are these shadow creatures?"

"They are creatures that were originally contained within stone tablets. But they were somehow released upon the death of my father. They are sent back to their tablet upon death, but the tablet temple has always been sacred knowledge known only by the pharaoh and the chosen priests." Atem replied clearly; he had gone over this information himself thousands of times, it was one of his favorite topics.

"Your uncle is the pharaoh, so why can't he find this hidden temple?" Shimon questioned, Atem could tell he was going to have his brain racked for every possible answer today.

"He can't find the temple because my father did not pass the knowledge onto him before he died, and he was never informed by the priests."

"So you're saying that if he did find the location of this temple he would be able to access the tablets within?" Shimon rubbed his beard thoughtfully as he looked at Atem, "Interesting."

"No, even if he did manage to find the temple he wouldn't be able to access the inside, only the pharaoh himself knows the words to open the doors of the temple. Besides, even if he didn't get inside it would do him no good. The powers of the shadow games were lost with my father." He sighed and picked up one of his note sheets from the table.

Shimon folded his hands, "They were lost with your father were they? Was he the only one able to harness their powers?"

Atem frowned thoughtfully, "Well…it was said that the priests could also control the shadow creatures, but if they could then why wouldn't they just bring back that ones that we defeat?"

Shimon looked thoughtful, "That's a good question, why do think they can't?"

Atem stared at the ground and tapped his toe against the floor, "Maybe they can't get inside, and since they can't use their magic they've forgotten how it works."

Shimon looked thoughtful, "A very keen observation young prince. Now you spoke of the priests. Who are they?"

"The priests are the six wielders of the Millennium items, they work along with pharaoh to keep balance, at least they used to." Atem said.

"Ah, but there are seven of the Millennium items, where is the seventh?"

"Well normally it's passed down to the newest pharaoh, but when the priests left after the death of my father they took the puzzle with them." Atem shivered, he felt the heavy weight of the puzzle under his shirt, but he couldn't tell Shimon about that, Mahado had told him not to tell anyone.

Shimon nodded, not at all noticing Atem's nervous expression, "So now we're back to where we were, what would the priests want from the pharaoh?"

"Well, I don't think they like him." Atem's face turned red, his comment had sounded very silly.

"Oh?"

"We'll it's not that they don't like him, it's just that I don't think they agree with my uncle's claim to the throne."

"Tell me Atem, why wouldn't they agree to your uncle's claim to the throne?" Shimon looked interested at the direction the conversation was taking. "What wouldn't they like about it?"

"Maybe they don't agree with how my uncle is ruling the country."

Shimon nodded, "True, but if they were just unhappy with the way that he was ruling they would have come right out and asked him to change his ways. The priests are not openly violent my prince, when they can they like to handle things with negotiation it resolves things much more quickly."

Atem frowned, "How do you know all this?"

Shimon shook his head, "You are forgetting young prince, that I was your father's advisor well before all of this happened, that alone gave me interaction with the priests." He paused to let this information work its way into Atem's mind, then he added, "But that is not the only way I know them."

"I don't understand." Atem said as he looked over at the older man, "Could you explain?"

"Actually I think that's enough on this topic for a single day, don't you think?" Shimon stood up and walked over to look out the window. Atem opened his mouth to protest when Shimon spoke again, seemingly reading his mind, "Let it go Atem, we'll discuss this topic another day."

The boy frowned and crossed his arms over his chest as he slouched in the chair, "Are we done then?"

"We can be if you'd like, but I had a proposition for you if you were interested." He glanced back over his shoulder to see the interest in Atem's eyes, "Would you be interested in knowing?"

Atem straightened in the chair and eyed Shimon curiously, "I'm listening."

Shimon smiled and slowly walked over to the table where he returned to his chair, "In a few days I will be leaving to go see an old friend." He watched Atem's reaction as the boy nodded, "What I wanted to know was if you were interested in joining me to visit him. I could be very…" He paused and looked thoughtful as he chose his words, "educational."

"Where are we going? How long will we be gone? Is my uncle alright with it? What exactly would we be doing? When are you leaving?"

As he paused to take a breath Shimon cut in, "If you would my prince, one question at a time." Then he drew in a breath and started to speak once again, "Now I shall answer all of your questions, starting with the first. We are going to city a good distance away; we shall be gone for four days including travel, I have already asked you uncle and he is in agreement with idea as long as I follow certain guidelines." He paused and glanced at a paper sitting on the table beside him, Atem had no doubt that those were his guidelines. "As for the rest of your questions, if you decide to accompany me I will explain what we will be doing then, and, should you choose to come, we will leave the day after tomorrow." He let out his breath and looked in his direction, "Any other questions?"

Atem shook his head, "That about covers it." He turned to leave when another question came to mind, "What exactly will I need to pack?"

Shimon smiled, "Just whatever specific items you want yourself, I shall take care of everything else we might need. And if you are considering coming with me then I should like to know by tomorrow."

Atem smiled as he opened the door, "Well, until tomorrow then."

Shimon nodded and opened his book as Atem stepped out the door. As he pulled it shut behind him he frowned, Shimon wasn't telling him everything, and he had been talking to someone before Atem had come in. A single thought crossed his mind and he smiled, perhaps the theory of him talking to birds wasn't as farfetched as he had thought. He shook his head, but he couldn't think about that now, he had to decide what he was taking with him.

Malik- *Dies* Gahhh!

Azzure-That bad huh? I'm gonna go with no luck.

Malik- Kill me!

Azzure- No thanks.

Malik- I have no wish to live.

Azzure- What if I told you I had cake and another lead.

Malik- I am suddenly wishing to live.

Azzure-That's what I thought.


	4. The Secrets Grow

Azzure-Malik's still following his lead, so I'll be doing my disclaimer again. I do not own Yu-gi-oh. Anyway here's chapter four, I hope that you enjoy. I really enjoyed writing this little chapter and I'm putting it up way faster than I expected to. Also a big thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far, you get cake for that.

* * *

><p>Yugi<p>

Yugi's breath was coming out in ragged gasps as he sprinted down the stairs and around the corner towards the open courtyard at the center of the palace. By the time he reached the grassy surface he was out of breath and panting desperately, he was late. He steadied himself on the wall with one had as he paused to catch his breath, with the other he tightly held his papers tightly to his chest.

After regaining his breath he opened the door on the far side and raced down the darker hallway, as he was running he dodged around several guards apologizing as he went. Today was the third day of Atem's absence, and although he missed his cousin this break allowed him to spend every available minute he had, while not doing lessons or working in the kitchen of course, with Mana. The paper's shifted in his grasp and he struggled to make sure that they didn't fall and fly everywhere, he had already dropped them once and he didn't want to repeat the outcome.

He was panting again when he reached the split in the hall, right or left? He knew the answer well by now; he grinned to himself and took off down the dark right path of the hall, and to think that he had only gone this way by accident. He jumped down the last few steps and landed with a thud on the ground he struggled to keep his footing as he raced down the remained of the hall to Mana's cell at the end. He could see her small shape hunched over something in her lap, he tried to slow down but felt himself hurl towards the cell, he was out of control.

Yugi hit the bars with a clang and Mana's head snapped up at the sound. Her eyes were filled with fear and anger until she caught sight of him sitting on the floor rubbing his head, "Oww…"

She giggled and set what she was working on aside before she moved over to the bars and started to help him collect the papers. He smiled and took the sheets from her, his face turning red, "Sorry."

A huge smile was covering her face, "Its fine." As Yugi let out a sigh of relief her face hardened, "You're late though."

Yugi's red cheeks turned even redder as he passed them through the bars to her, "I'm really sorry Mana, but I had to stay longer in the kitchen than I expected to, Jonouchi was delivering again today so the meat was late, again." He shook his head, "Miss Kukaju wasn't happy with him, she practically threw him out the door after he was late again."

Mana placed the stack near the back of her cell, then leaned against the bars and smiled, "I can see why, he doesn't sound very dependable."

Yugi shrugged, "I don't know, Mai says that he's dependable at some things, mainly the ones that he actually wants to do, and then he just doesn't try with others."

Mana shrugged, "I shouldn't be making judgments I suppose, after all I've never met him and don't know him at all."

"I'd like to know him better, but that won't happen." Yugi sighed wishfully.

"Why's that?" She said confused, "What's keeping you from introducing yourself and getting to know him?"

Yugi slumped to the ground, "My uncle doesn't agree with me or Atem having friends outside of the royal palace. He thinks it'll make us weak."

"Atem's your cousin right?" Yugi nodded dumbly as she paused, "I really don't see why it's so wrong to have friends outside of the palace, I mean the last pharaoh had plenty of them."

Yugi's eyes brightened, "Really? My uncle had friends outside the palace?"

Now it was Mana's turn to go red faced, "Well I don't know exactly, but my master always said it was a good idea to have friends in several places in case of an emergency. So I assume that your father would have had friends all over, after all he was pharaoh."

Yugi looked thoughtful, "So you're saying that I should try and make friends with Jonouchi?"

Mana shrugged, "Do what you want, I would try and make friends though."

Yugi grinned, "I'll do it." His smile faded when he saw her scowl, "What's wrong?"

"He's doing it again." Her voice was sour and her eyes narrowed as she glared over his head.

Yugi started to turn around, "Who is…?"

"Don't turn and look!" Mana's voice was soft and urgent, "He's watching you, I don't think we should let him know that we're on to him."

Yugi turned his head back to stare into Mana's green eyes, the girl was staring at someone out of the corner of her eye, "Who is he? And what does he want?"

Mana frowned, "I'm not exactly sure, he's been down here he was brought down here shortly after you came down to visit me two days ago. Yesterday and the day before he's been watching you; I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't think it was important."

"Who is he?" Yugi looked deep into her green eyes.

She shrugged, still watching him cautiously, "Beats me, I've never seen him before. And as far as I know no one seems to know a lot about him, your father's personal guard brought him down here. He was fighting them every step yelling at them for something." Yugi frowned; his father's personal guard had brought him here? But that made him a high ranked criminal.

"Can I look now?" He asked, all the while half turning his head.

Mana nodded, "He's not looking at the moment. But don't stare ok; I think he has a sixth sense for things like that."

Yugi nodded and shifted his body so that he could see this man. The man was sitting in the cell just diagonal to Mana's; he had his back up against the wall and sat there with his eyes shut. Wait; was it a he or a she?

"Are you sure he's a guy Mana? I mean he sort of looks like a girl." Yugi glanced back at her nervously.

Mana shook her head, "He's a guy, looks can be deceiving and his voice gives away his gender." She looked into his amethyst eyes, "Trust me I heard it."

Yugi nodded and turned his attention away from Mana and back towards the other man. He was tall, Yugi couldn't judge his exact height since he was sitting but his long legs led him to assume that he was taller than he thought. He was skinny and wore tight fitting shirt that only came halfway down his upper half and showed a good portion of his midsection. Yugi caught sight of the exposed skin and stifled a gasp; the man's skin was covered in red slash lines that Yugi immediately identified as whip marks. His pants were also tight and showed the exact length of his legs. Yugi frowned, he had no doubt that his legs were slashed up in the same manner.

He let his gaze move up to the man's head; he had darker red hair that hung close around his face except for a portion on each side that stuck out to a point. His hair itself hung down to about midway down his neck. Although his eyes were closed Yugi could still see that his features were hard and serious and the way that he had his arms crossed over his chest gave Yugi the impression that he didn't spend a lot of time laughing and smiling. He was muttering something to himself; Yugi couldn't hear a word but he saw his lips moving.

He continued to watch him even though he knew he was staring. Who was this man? And what had he done to deserve this pain? Yugi shook his head; no one deserved something like that.

He was about to turn back towards Mana when the man suddenly stopped talking to himself, opened his eyes, and looked abruptly in his direction. Yugi gasped at their silvery gray color, they locked with his own amethyst eyes and held them in their gaze, they were so…so mysterious. "Yugi! Look away!" Mana's voice screamed at him, but he couldn't look away, those gray eyes captivated him. The expression in them was hard, but seemed to soften as they gazed into Yugi's. His serious expression changed to one of first mortal confusion, then pain, and finally anger. Then he abruptly looked away and turned his attention to the wall in the opposite direction from Yugi, and a few minutes later closed them again.

Yugi blinked as their eyes broke contact, Mana's hand suddenly gripping his shoulder brought him back to reality. "Yugi!" Her voice was filled with alarm and concern.

He blinked and stared at her, "Huh?"

"Are you alright?" She looked scared and as he nodded she seemed to relax, "I'm glad, when he looked at you it gave me a fright." Her eyes narrowed, "Why didn't you look away? I warned you not to stare at him."

"I tried to!" Yugi protested, "But I couldn't it was almost as though he held me in some sort of trance."

Mana shivered, "I know what you mean." She glared angrily at the other cell, "I don't understand how he does it, but the same thing happened to me when I first saw him." She wrapped her arms around herself as though a sudden wind had chilled her, "It was weird, we made eye contact and it was if neither of us could look away, or he didn't want to. I was finally able to look away but I got the sense of pain while staring into his eyes."

Yugi nodded, he had felt the same thing except, that it had been the man who had broken the contact not him. "But what does it mean?"

Mana shrugged, "I don't know and I don't really want to." She looked back at the papers sitting in the back of her cell, "Can you come in here? I want to show you something."

Yugi nodded and rose to his feet, "I'll check and see if that guard is on duty." Mana nodded and he walked around the corner. As he passed the other cells he could fell the man's eyes watching him, he shivered as he passed, he still didn't know what to make of him. As he rounded the corner he caught sight of a familiar guard sitting at the table at the far end. He smiled, it was the exact guard that he had hoped for, he sat staring at the table twirling a couple dice between his fingers with the keys sitting on the table in front of him.

He and Mana had managed to persuade one of the guards to let Yugi borrow the keys to let himself into Mana's cell so that they could interact with each other easier. It had taken a lot of pleading over the past three days, but after he had judged Mana as not dangerous he had let Yugi use the key. He knew that his uncle might not approve, but as Mana had said, what he didn't know wasn't going to hurt him.

Yugi walked over and innocently smiled at him, when the man caught sight of him he looked at Yugi but didn't say anything. Yugi pointed at the keys, "Could I borrow those?"

The man looked over at them, "You want to be in with your friend again?"

Yugi nodded, "Yes please."

He slipped a single key off the ring and handed it to Yugi, "Be careful."

Yugi smiled, "Thank you very much." Then he took off down the hall and around the corner. He paused when he reached the last corner that would let in him into the hallway where Mana's cell was, he wasn't sure that he wanted to face that man again.

He drew in a slow breath, Mana wanted to see him and he couldn't let himself be frightened off by a single man. Besides all he had to do was walk past him and he wouldn't have to deal with him until he left. He tightened his grip on the key and rounded the corner into the hall; he walked down the hall with his eyes fixed straight ahead. He passed the cell without any problems; he didn't even feel his eyes. Perhaps he was asleep or something, he glanced back once and the man looked up at him, his gray eyes containing that slightly annoyed look. Yugi quickly turned away. What, he wondered, would Atem do?

The though vanished from his mind as he reached Mana's cell. The girl was sitting at the back, she looked up and raised an eyebrow, "You get it?"

He held up the key before he slipped into the hole, he turned it and the door swung open with a click. He slipped inside and closed the door behind him after slipping the key into his pocket. The door wasn't locked, but that wasn't a problem since Mana had promised that she wouldn't try and leave.

Mana was sitting cross-legged on the floor with several papers spread out around her, Yugi moved over and sat down next to her. He looked at the sketch drawings done and marveled at them, "These are amazing!"

Mana grinned, "Thanks, give me just a second to finish this one." She scribbled furiously on one last sheet of paper as Yugi picked up one of the sheets.

It was a black and white drawing, they all were, but he could distinctly make out the two figures drawn on the sheet. The drawing was amazing, it showed a young woman. She was drawn wearing a single layered light colored dress with a few lightly shaded areas around her waist and other parts of her arms, it almost look light…jewelry. He examined the image further, what he could see of her hair was shaded black; the vast majority however was covered in a lighter colored headpiece. There was a sense of confidence in her eyes, yet he could also see a spark of compassion within them.

The other figure on the sheet was also female, though she didn't look completely human. For one thing she had what looked like three feathers sticking up from her brow, and the other thing that set her apart were the pair of white feathery bird wings that protruded from her back. Otherwise she looked miraculously similar to the woman she was standing by, actually change that to floating. She wore a shorter dress that had a diamond pattern shaded on it, like the other woman she was quite skinny, but the expression on her face was a larger smile.

"That's Isis." He looked up at Mana's voice. She was grinning and had set her finished drawing. "She's one of the wielders of the Millennium items. And the creature next to her is Spiria."

"Spiria." Yugi whispered the name as he traced the two figures, then he looked back up at Mana, "What item did she have?"

Mana pointed to the necklace on the figure, "The Millennium Tauk."

Yugi looked at it for another moment before setting down the sketch, "What are the others?"

Mana's face brightened as she picked up the next page, "Well this is Karim and Curse of Dragon." Yugi watched in fascination as she showed him several pages of drawings done on figures from the resistance groups. She had drawings for all of the priests and numerous shadow creatures that she had known well. There were some creatures that resembled animals, then there were others who were very human like, and then there were several that could shift their shapes around. He remembered one girl who was mostly human but had the spirit of a dragon inside of her that protected herself. The whole time Mana was explaining about the figures on the pages her eyes were sparkling and Yugi couldn't help but smile along with her.

She was about to show him the last sheet when footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. They both suddenly fell silent as they footsteps came closer and closer. Yugi held his breath, if his father found out about him doing this then he could get into big trouble, and he didn't even want to think about what it meant for Mana. He knew that he should bolt out the door and pretend that he wasn't inside, but he found that he was quaking with fear and couldn't move.

Luckily the footsteps stopped at the cell right before them, the one that contained the strange man. He caught sight of the dark purple color and signified the pharaoh's personal guard. He also caught sight of the guard that had been on duty opening the door with his key ring, he looked over his shoulder to see Yugi still with Mana his green eyes widening in realization. As he stepped away from the door he stepped back to where he was blocking the guards' view of them but left enough space so that they could still see. "He's all yours."

Yugi saw the man's gray eyes flash angrily as two of the moved towards him. They picked him up roughly and he fought back, "Unhand me you little…!" He was cut off as one of the men smacked him roughly across the face.

"Watch your language you! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

He ignored their question and continued to struggle, "I haven't done anything to you, let me go!"

The other guard laughed, "While that might be true young man, the Pharaoh believes that you have information that he can get out of you. So that's what we've been assigned to do, and we're getting what we want today."

"I won't tell you! You can't make me!" He didn't look the least bit frightened, just angry and furious at the guards themselves.

The guard laughed again, "Oh well see about that. You might change your mind after we're done with you today."

They dragged he down the hall, he fought, yelled, and struggled against them every minute but to no avail. After they were out of earshot the regular guard locked up the cell and glanced into the cell where Yugi and Mana were huddled, "They'll probably be back in a couple of hours; I suggest being gone by then my prince." Yugi nodded, the guard bowed and then headed back down the hall to the table.

Yugi looked at Mana who looked right back causing their eyes to meet. "What was that about?"

Mana shrugged, "Whatever it was it didn't sound good for him."

Yugi looked out the bars towards the empty cell, "Do you think he'll be alright?"

"If he gives in to what they want quickly then yeah, I think he'll be fine." She sighed, "He doesn't strike me as the type who would do something like that though." She paused then reached for the last sheet, "I really want to show you this one before you go."

Yugi looked at the sheet she held out to him. He took it and silently looked at image on the page. It showed a young man slightly older than his cousin was now; he had on a headdress that covered any hair that he might have. He wore a light colored outfit with jewelry similar to those of the other priests. He wore a strange object around his neck, one that Yugi didn't recognize. It was a single ring with a triangle piece in the center and five shorter spikes hanging from the side. He had a look of determination in his eyes and a serious expression on his face, but aside from his expression he also saw a spark of amusement in his eyes.

Next to him in the picture, Yugi saw what looked to be a floating suit of armor. It was completely black inside except for a single pair of eyes. It was floating just to the side of the man; it held a staff that was almost half as tall as it was. At the head of the staff there was a sparkling orb nestled inside.

Yugi looked at Mana, "Who is this?"

Mana smiled, "Master Mahado." Her eyes sparkled with determination, "He taught me everything I know, and when I get out of here I'm going to prove to him that I am a great wizard and the greatest apprentice he's ever had."

Yugi looked at the man, so this was Mana's master…and…and Atem's friend. He stared into his eyes, what was he really like? His two best friends knew him, but would he approve him Yugi himself? He let his eyes flicker to the other shape, "Who's that?" He pointed to the figure.

"Huh?" Mana looked down at the sheet, "Him?" He pointed to the other figure and Yugi nodded, "That's Master Mahado's greatest ally and best friend of the shadow creatures. He's called the Illusion Magician."

"The Illusion Magician?" Yugi echoed, "Why is he called that?"

Mana shrugged, "You'd have to ask Master Mahado that. It's weird; I'm not sure how exactly they met either."

"You don't know how they met?"

Mana shook her head, "No, it's like that with the other priests to actually. They somehow knew their partners before they shadow creatures were given physical forms of their own. I don't know how."

Yugi looked at all the papers spread around him, "These are amazing Mana. Can you really remember them all that well?"

She nodded, "I have to. Until you came along I was alone down here, knowing that they were out there was the only thing that kept me from just trying to kill myself." She leaned over and hugged Yugi, "I'm really happy you're here now though."

Yugi's face turned red, "I'm glad I met you too."

Atem

The wind blew softly as their horses worked their way towards the town Atem could see forming in the distance. They had been into town every day for the last three days but had yet to see Shimon's friend even once. The raids had increased by the town making it impossible to safely stay in the town, so they had to stay in an inn one town over and ride the distance every day. Shimon's friend also lived in the part of town that had been considered the most dangerous until today, today they could actually go meet him.

He groaned and let his head fall down and rest on horse's neck. Shimon looked over at him, "Is something wrong Atem?" When not around his uncle Atem knew that Shimon preferred to go off a first name basis and he couldn't say that he minded, it got irritating to have someone call you my prince or your highness all the time.

Atem looked up, "I'm fine, I was just hoping that we would have more time to spend with your friend before we left tomorrow. He sounds very interesting."

Shimon nodded and nudged his horse forward so that it was parallel with the prince's own. "I understand, that's why we won't be leaving tomorrow after all."

Atem looked over at him, "Excuse me?"

Shimon smiled, "I assumed that you would feel that way so I sent a messenger back to your uncle informing him that due to uncontrolled circumstances we would be staying a few extra days." He looked up as the town became closer in the distance, "I'd suggest pulling up your hood now, we're getting very close to town."

Atem nodded and pulled his purple cloak hood up over his hair, although his uncle had said that they had to take several groups of guards with them Shimon had persuaded them to stay at the inn saying that he could protect Atem if they were to get attacked. Though the head guard had seemed much less inclined to do so today for some odd reason.

"How far away is it?" He asked as they passed through the gates.

Shimon had pulled up his own hood but Atem could still see his brown eyes from under the hood, "It's not much further now."

Atem nodded and kept his eyes moving as they moved down the streets, the houses around him progressively became more run down and the people on the streets became less friendly and more paranoid and cautious. Atem realized quickly that they were heading into the lower districts of the city. They had passed several groups who shot them dark looks as they passed before Atem directed his horse right next to Shimon's. The advisor seemed to read his thoughts, "Not much further my prince."

He was right, only moments later he directed horse towards the front of a rundown tavern. He dismounted and handed his reigns to Atem, "I'll be right back, just sit tight for a moment." Atem watched him enter the tavern and sat fidgeting in the saddle as the door closed. All around him he could see people watching him; he felt the tension in the air rise as the length of time Shimon was inside the tavern increased.

He was about to go into the tavern and find Shimon when the door opened and the old advisor stepped out with another man close behind him. The man wore a cloak similar to the one that Shimon wore but had to hood pulled back to reveal his long black hair and beard. Atem frowned, he looked familiar to someone that he had seen before, but he couldn't place him. The man followed Shimon down the steps and paused to look up at Atem, "Is he the one?"

Atem stared down at him, what did he mean by that? And who was he? Shimon walked over and nodded, "Yes, this is he."

The man walked over and unhooked the reigns of a horse hitched nearby he mounted the beast while Shimon took his reigns from Atem. When the boy shot him a confused look he whispered, "Yes this is my friend." When Atem continued to frown he added, "We're going back to his place, I'll explain everything there."

The black horse trotted over on the other side of Shimon, the man on his back raised an eyebrow. "Ready to go?"

Shimon nodded, "Lead on."

The man nodded and nudged his horse forward Shimon and Atem followed him close behind. They rode through the town for several minutes; Atem caught more and more people watching them as they rode by. Why was everyone so interested in them? Was it so odd for people to ride through town on horses? His thoughts were interrupted when they reached the house of Shimon's friend.

The man dismounted and handed the reins to a young girl, who looked about Yugi's age, standing off to the side. She bowed and led the horse into the stable at the side of the house. Atem frowned; this house was much nicer than all the others that he had seen in that part of town. He looked around; actually they didn't even seem to be in town any longer. Where were they?

"Atem." Shimon's voice brought him back to reality. "I'm going inside; feel free to look around if you want. When you're ready we'll meet you in study." Atem nodded as the advisor walked through the door after handing his reigns to the same girl who had exited again.

Atem dismounted and looked around at the many trees around the house. It was amazing, he hadn't seen this many plants except back at the palace. "Excuse me." He turned to see the young girl watching him. "May I take your horse for you?"

"Uh…of course." He handed her the reigns and she bowed before leading it to the stables. He looked around; Shimon had said that he would meet them in the study, wherever that was. He entered the house and wandered around the halls absently searching for the right room. He had wandered in a circle when he saw the door open and saw the girl enter into the hall. He hadn't gotten a good look at her yet, she was blond with long hair that ran down her back. She wore a pair of blue glasses and had started towards the heart of the house, "Excuse me!" He called after her.

She turned around and looked surprised to see him, "Yes?"

"Could you perhaps help me with something?" He gestured around, "I was told Shimon and his friend were in the study, but I don't have any idea where that is."

"My grandpa's in the study, that's where I'm going too." She replied as she started down the study, "Follow me." Atem nodded and followed her down the hall to a closed door; he reached out to knock when she stopped him. The two of them stood in silence as they heard voices coming from the other side.

The girl pressed her ear against the door, Atem shook his head, "We shouldn't be doing this."

She gave him a bored look, "Oh don't tell me that you've never done it before, and besides I want to know what they're saying." Atem waited another moment before he leaned against the door to join her. The first voice he heard was one that he didn't recognize because it clearly wasn't Shimon and didn't sound like the other man he had met in town.

"Have you told him yet Shimon?"

Shimon's voice answered, "Not yet, I still have the remainder of the week."

"He has the right to know." Came the third voice, that was his friend, "And every second you keep it from him makes the situation worse for us."

"Yes, but ignorance is bliss." Shimon countered.

"Not in this case I'm afraid." That was the unfamiliar voice again.

"Arthur's right Shimon, we're losing our chance to fix this. He has to know."

"I know alright!?" Shimon sounded angry, "I've already heard this conversation at least a thousand times before! This is my last week before I'm forced to tell him everything and I plan to keep the pharaoh's son in the dark as long as possible!"

Atem gasped, he was talking about Yugi again! The girl looked up at him again, and mouthed with a horse whisper that was so soft that he almost did hear it, "You know what they're talking about?"

"I know who they're talking about." Atem said nodding at her.

She put her finger to her lips and the two of them pressed their ears against the door again.

"Shimon, I know that you don't want to tell him but…" It was the man he had met in town speaking again.

Shimon interrupted him, "I know how it is Naeem. I don't need to be told again."

"That's not what I meant." The man, Naeem, said sternly. "They're back Shimon."

"What!?" Shimon suddenly sounded alarmed, "They can't be! Aknamkanon dealt with them, we had a deal! Why are they back?"

"It seems that Gozaburo decided not to honor that deal." Naeem replied angrily.

"What do you mean!?"

The other man, Arthur, broke into the conversation. "Someone I knew saw his own personal guard dragging one of their own men into the palace. I have no doubt that he will be tortured for every ounce of information they can get out of him."

"How did you learn this?"

"Rebecca and I happened to be in town doing research on a particular subject that would be familiar to you."

Shimon's voice brightened, "Any luck?"

"None I'm afraid…" His sentence was cut off as the blond girl pulled him away from the door and towards another.

She shut the door behind him as he entered the room then turned around to glare at him, "Explain!"

Atem was surprised at her sudden aggressiveness, "What?"

"Explain what they were talking about! And don't lie I know you know!" She stared at him with her green eyes and a frown on her face.

Atem shook his head, "I don't know everything, I was hoping that you could help me with some of that."

She seemed to relax, "Like what?"

"First of all who are you?"

She placed her hands on her hips, "My name's Rebecca granddaughter of Arthur. Yours?"

Atem sighed, "Prince Atem, son of the previous Pharaoh Aknamkanon."

She frowned, "You're the prince?"

"Myself and my cousin Yugi yes." He paused then added, "He's the one that they were talking about in there."

"The pharaoh's son?"

"Yes" He answered her nodding, "Who are those men in there with Shimon, do you know?"

Rebecca sat down in a chair next to him, "Well Arthur is my grandfather is Arthur, the other man is someone named Naeem."

"I caught that." Atem said nodding, "But who are they specifically?"

Rebecca bit her lip, "Well my grandpa is a traveling scholar, we've been traveling around gathering information from locals. As for Naeem, I have no idea who he is."

Atem frowned, "What about this project your grandfather was talking about? Do you know anything about that?"

Rebecca frowned, "Grandpa's been pretty secretive on his project, I don't know a whole lot about it." As Atem sighed and put his face in his hands she shrugged apologetically, "Sorry."

"It's not your fault." Atems said with a sigh, "I just wish I had more of an idea of what they were talking about. That and what they're keeping from Yugi."

"You really care about him don't you?"

Atem nodded, "Yes, he's my cousin and if something ever happened to him I'm not sure that I could take it."

Rebecca nodded politely but they both froze as the door across the hall opened and a voice called out, "Rebecca? Where are you?"

The girl responded quick and raced over to the door, "I'm in here grandpa, I was just showing Atem around."

Atem followed her to the door and Shimon smiled when he saw him, "Ah Atem it's good of you to allow Rebecca to show you around." He turned to the other men, "I'd like you to meet a few friends of mine." He gestured to the one Atem didn't recognize first, he was taller than Shimon and had gray hair, "This is Arthur." Then Atem turned his attention to the other man, his black hair pulled back over his shoulders now, "And this is Naeem."

Naeem bowed, "Prince Atem."

Arthur followed in suit, "My prince."

Atem bowed back, "It's my pleasure to meet you."

Arthur turned to Rebecca, "We should be going Rebecca."

Rebecca made a face but then turned and bowed to the three of them, "It was a pleasure meeting you."

Arthur smiled, "I shall send a message to you when we arrive Naeem." The other man nodded.

Rebecca looked confused, "Where are we going?"

Arthur shook his head, "I'll tell you later."

She frowned and started after him, but only after she turned around and winked at Atem, "Bye Atem." Atem sighed as she chased after her grandfather, "So where are we going?"

"Atem." He spun around to see Shimon starting back into the room, "Naeem and I would like to speak with you for a moment." He nodded and followed Shimon in a furnished room that reminded Atem of library back at the palace. There were books on shelves completely surrounding the room, Atem started at them all in fascination.

"I'm a big reader." Naeem said; he seemed to have caught the surprise on Atem's face. He sat down in a chair and left two across the room for Shimon and Atem. As Atem sat down next to Shimon the man's face hardened, "Now, down to business." He looked at Atem, "I understand you've been studying with Shimon."

Atem nodded, "Yes."

"Well, I'd like to ask you a few questions about this conflict we're fighting if you don't mind."

Atem shook his head and Shimon's face hardened, "Now Naeem, we didn't agree to…"

"Relax Shimon." Naeem kept his eyes focused on Atem, "I want to know what you think of the whole conflict."

Atem frowned, "I don't know enough information from either side to make a sound decision, but I feel that we shouldn't be fighting against each other." He looked up at Naeem, "It would be better if we could end this on negotiation…" He shivered as he recalled the number of deaths he had seen the single night he had gone out, "It would prevent unnecessary deaths on both sides."

Naeem nodded, "I agree, but what if the conflict could not be not be avoided and violence was the only answer? What would your choice be then?"

Atem frowned, "I suppose then everyone would have to make their own choice on which side they stand with."

Naeem watched him, his brown eyes serious but otherwise unreadable, "And you?"

"I myself would pick a side and stick with them until the end." Atem said, he knew the answer from the bottom of his heart.

"Even if that side were to lose?" Naeem countered his expression still serious.

"Yes" Atem said nodding, "Even if they were to lose."

Naeem leaned back and looked at Shimon, "I'm good with it." Atem was confused, what was he good with?

Shimon sighed and looked out the window at the far side of the room, the light was fading and Atem knew that he was going to suggest heading back. Sure enough the man spoke a moment later, "We should be leaving Atem." Shimon however did look back at Naeem. "We'll come back over tomorrow if it wouldn't be a problem. I still have things I need to talk to you about."

The man nodded, "Of course, you're more than welcome to come back."

Shimon bowed, "Then until tomorrow." He nodded once at Atem and started out the door, the prince following close behind him.

As soon as they had exited the building and remounted their horses Atem let his mind wander around to all the events that had just taken place, it seemed that every time he tried to find the answers to one question he had he would be confronted with another one along with no answer to the first. He sighed and let his head rest on the horse's neck. The beast shook its head softly and Atem just sighed again he knew that all things had a purpose, but what was the purpose of confusing him to death exactly? He sighed and closed his eyes as he fell into the gently rhythm of the horse's movement, soon all his problems vanished as he fell asleep.

?

The whip slashed viciously across his back, he drew in a sharp breath as the sting spread over his entire body followed closely behind by the dripping of blood down his back. That one would probably leave a mark, as would the next one, and probably the one after that. He smirked slightly, only to have it removed seconds later when the whip made contact with his back once again; every one of them would leave a mark, the thousand that he had already had to put up with, and the thousand more that would most likely come in the future too. Of course they would have to whip him until they killed him, because he wasn't planning on giving them what they wanted.

He grunted as the whip made contact with his back again; he could take it, after everything he had been through in his childhood this should be a breeze for him. But that didn't mean that the pain that came with it didn't hurt.

His breath was coming in ragged gasps as they paused in his torture, one of the men walked around into his line of sighed, "You ready to talk yet?" He regarded his captor coolly with his eyes; once again he was determined not to say anything. The guard didn't seem the least bit irritated by his silence, "You know, I'm surprised a girl like you could hold out this long. You haven't even screamed once." He laughed and looked back at his partner, "Wouldn't you like to hear her scream?" He ruffled his hair and the young adult had to resist trying to bite his hand, "Why don't you scream for us girly?"

Oh how he'd love to punch that smug expression off his face, along with half a dozen other things; he balled his hands into hard fists and felt the ropes tighten around where they held them together above his head. He gritted his teeth and used every last bit of willpower he had to keep himself from exploding, that man knew very well that he wasn't a girl, and he was just using it to irritate him. But it wasn't going to work; he wasn't going to give in now just because some idiot decided that torturing him was fun. He let out a slow breath and closed his eyes; normally he wouldn't have given in to his anger so quickly. But he had been pushed around just to the point where he would explode if something didn't stop them soon.

The guard didn't seem to like not getting a reaction out of him and slapped him across the face, "What, are you too good to even speak to us now?" When he didn't respond the man grabbed the whip and slashed him with it again and again. He drew in a sharp breath and gritted his teach against the pain, he felt his blood running down his back and splashing to the floor below. The guard moved back in front of him and held his face only inches away from his own, his voice came out in a hoarse whisper, "Tell me what I want to know, I know that you know."

He narrowed his nearly colorless eyes to slits, "No."

The man obviously didn't like that answer, as he picked up the whip and started slashing him violently. The younger man arched his back in pain and bit his tongue as it was all he could do from screaming in agony. The man continued to lash out, "You will tell me what I want to know! DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

The man slowly stopped biting his tongue and spoke firmly, but with difficulty to even form the words, "You'll have to kill me first."

The man smiled, "I think that can be arranged, all I have to do is ask the pharaoh first."

Suddenly man rushed into the room, his eyes were wide and he looked scared out of his wits. "The Pharaoh is coming Sir!"

The man smiled and once again ruffled the younger man's hair, "Hear that kid? Looks like we won't have to wait so long to get permission for you to die after all, doesn't that just make your day?"

He let his body go limp and closed his eyes as a sigh escaped his lips; his day couldn't possibly get any worse now, he was in for the most painful time of his life and it would only get worse from there. He listened for footsteps and recalled an old saying that he had heard over and over on numerous occasions, it certainly fit the situation right now. He glanced at the door as it opened and as the guards were bowing before the pharaoh he muttered under his breath, "Speak of the devil and he appears."

* * *

><p>Malik- Well that was certainly interesting.<p>

Azzure-So how'd it go?

Malik- He'll be here by the next chapter! I'm so excited!

Azzure- Alright Malik you know the drill.

Malik- Alright everyone, if you want to know who will be joining me next chapter and what happens in the story, then please leave a review so that Miss Azzure will write it. Besides look at that nice little button down there than needs some tender loving care.

Azzure- Wow Malik, just wow.


	5. Fears and Questions

Bakura- Wait where am I? Malik what are you making me do now?

Azzure- Hello Bakura.

Malik- She's ArcherAzzure and she writes fanfiction. We're here to help her with disclaimers.

Bakura- No, I refuse.

Azzure- Show him how we roll Malik.

Malik- Ok! Miss Azzure does not own Yu-gi-oh, Bakura or myself.

Azzure- Very nice, also a nice heads up to my readers,

Bakura- If you have any left…

Azzure-Shut up, anyway, I enjoy combining a variety of sources; therefore you will be seeing numerous characters that never would have appeared in ancient Egypt. Just know that I do know what I'm doing.

Bakura-Of course you do…

Malik-coughsarcasmcough

* * *

><p>Yugi<p>

"Would you get out already!?" Mai's voice filled the air again and Yugi sighed as he put the finishing touches on the dish he was preparing, the whole cooking idea had become one of great fun, but between these kitchen tasks and talking with Mana he found that he never had time to himself. Not that he minded of course, but he knew that he would have to tone down the time he spent doing these things when Atem came back from the trip he'd gone on with Shimon. He still hadn't told his cousin about his friendship with Mana, he didn't know how Atem would take it. Speaking of which, he hadn't told Atem about spending time down in the dungeons or that other strange prisoner either. He sighed and continued working, he just didn't want to make his cousin worry about him, Atem didn't always understand it, but Yugi knew that he could take care of himself well enough.

"But…Now wait a minute!" He didn't look up as the something hit the ground outside and the door was slammed shut, Jonouchi had be unlucky enough to deliver two days in a row, and Mai just wasn't in the mood for him today. He glanced out the window to see him peddling furiously towards the streets below, no doubt complaining the whole way he went.

He sighed and continued on his fruit salad, he had tried several times to try and talk to Jonouchi, but when he delivered Mai always managed to remove him in the course of a few minutes. So he hadn't yet had a chance to talk to him. He continued adding the fruit, and whispered a prayer under his breath, "Please Ra, give me a chance to talk with him." He didn't know why he prayed like that but he felt like it helped so he did it anyway.

"You have to be kidding me!" Yugi spun halfway around, his hands still mixing the fruit, to see Mai standing with her head in her hands, "Somebody shoot me!"

He quickly added the last ingredient and jumped down from the chair he was standing on, then he ran over to where she was surrounded by several other girls and looked as though she was going to explode. "Is something wrong Miss Kukaju?"

Mai looked down at him and sighed, "I'm really sorry about this Yugi, but I'm going to need to ask you to do me a favor." As Yugi continued to look at her she sighed, "Mr. Idiot left his bag here and we'll never hear the end of it if it doesn't get returned before he drops back around. I know it sounds like a lot, but I need my other workers here, so could you deliver this for me?"

Yugi was shocked, had the gods actually answered his prayers? "Of…of course I'll help." He took the bag from Mai, "Where can I find him?"

Mai sighed, "He and his friends live in an apartment on the main road. Ask around I'm sure you can find it." Yugi nodded as she turned around and started barking orders at the others, he sighed and grabbed his cloak from where it was hanging on the wall, he put it on and pulled up the hood over his head before he headed out the door.

The main street was bustling with people and Yugi was jostled back and forth between large amounts of people, he knew that all he had to do was draw back his hood and the people would part around him and tell him anything he wanted to know. But he also knew that it would make him more vulnerable to attacks from his uncle's enemies, besides he liked it much better when people would just treat him like a normal person.

He continued down the street keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Jonouchi or anyone that might know him. He had asked several people if they'd seen him but everyone he spoke to would just shake their heads and walk away muttering about annoying teens or something else along the same lines. He had been walking for only a few more minutes before he bumped into someone from behind, he stumbled backwards trying to catch his balance, "S…sorry!"

The figure half turned around and pulled their cloak tight around them, "It's alright." Yugi tried to get a look at them, but they had their face covered so he couldn't see them very well aside form a few strands of black hair that had escaped the hood wore over their head. Judging by the voice however he guessed that it was a woman. She stared down at him, her eyes were blue and looked oddly familiar but he couldn't seem to place where he'd seen them before. She sensed him watching her and looked back down at him, "Can I help you?"

Yugi looked startled for a moment before he nodded, "Actually I hope you can." He paused, "I'm looking for Katsuya Jonouchi; you haven't seen him have you?"

The woman shook her head, "I'm afraid that I'm not very familiar with this Katsuya Jonouchi. I've seen many people today, but if you have a description I'd be more than happy to inform you whether or not I've seen him."

Yugi bit his lip as he attempted to remember what Jonouchi looked like and how to describe him. "Well he has sandy blond hair, it's I suppose you could call it unruly and poof, and sort of hangs in his face." He frowned, he really wasn't good at describing people, "He has brown eyes, and normally delivers meat to the palace.

The woman looked thoughtful for a minute before answering, "Actually I do believe I've seen him. And it wasn't long ago that I did, if I remember correctly he just took off down the street towards the butchery." She paused to look at Yugi, "He was yelling something about losing a bag and needing to go find it. You wouldn't happen to know about that would you?"

Yugi nodded, "Yes, that's why I need to find him."

The woman pointed down the road, "The shop is just down there it's pretty busy so you probably won't be able to miss it."

Yugi bowed, he still thought that she looked quite familiar, but he still couldn't place her. "Thank you very much." She nodded and headed off; he followed her with his eyes and noticed that she quickened her pace to get away from him. Had he done something wrong? He sighed and headed down the street towards the shops at the end, as he was nearing them he saw a large group in front of one shop and he heard yelling from the inside.

"Get out kid!"

"Wait! I need my bag!" His eyes widened as he recognized that voice! It was Jonouchi's!

"Out of my shop!"

"Please I know it's here!" Yugi had worked his way around the crowd and managed to make out an older figure, who he assumed ran the shop, who was tossing Jonouchi out of the building. Jonouchi had scrambled back over and was trying to get the man to let him back in, the store owner however was having none of it and he shut the door in the boy's face.

Jonouchi scowled and dusted himself off as he rose to his feet and made his way towards his bike on the other side of the road. Yugi watched him for a minute then ran to catch up, "Jonouchi wait!"

Jonouchi turned around and Yugi could see him scanning the street, he raised his hand quickly and waved as he ran over. Jonouchi looked down at him his expression was unsure and slightly wary, "Who are you? And how do you know who I am?" He stared at him for a minute and frowned, "Hey do I know you from somewhere?"

Yugi nodded and partly drew back his hood, "I'm Yugi."

Jonouchi's wary expression faded, "Hey you work in the palace kitchens don't you!"

Yugi nodded and pulled the bag off his shoulder and held it out towards him, "I think this is yours."

Jonouchi's eyes widened, "My bag! Thanks a lot Yug." He paused, "You don't mind me calling Yug do you?"

Yugi shook his head, "Its fine Jonouchi."

"Call me Joey." He smiled and held out his hand, "You saved me a lot of time there buddy. If you hadn't found me I would have spent the rest of my day trying to find this darn thing." He glared at the bag, "How'd you know it was mine?"

Yugi shrugged, "I didn't find it, Mai did. She was the one that asked me to bring it to you."

Joey looked thoughtful, "Mai huh? Well that was nice of her."

"You like her don't you?" Yugi asked calmly.

Joey's face turned red, "Yeah…you were there on that day I asked her out weren't you…?" When Yugi nodded he sighed, "She doesn't like me does she?" He let out a sad sigh and leaned back against the wall.

Yugi shrugged, "I'm not sure that she likes you, but I know that she doesn't hate you."

Joey smiled at him, "You're a nice kid you know that?"

Yugi blushed slightly and looked up at the sun, it was just past noon. Wait noon!? He was supposed to go visit Mana! "I…I need to get back!"

Joey looked confused, "Ok, you want some help doing that? I can give you a lift if you'd like." Yugi looked up at him and nodded, Joey grinned, "Then let's go." He climbed on his bike and Yugi got on behind him, "You might want to hold on tight by the way. Yugi's eyes widened as the bike took off down the street, he clung desperately to Joey as the rode, he had just realized that Mai hadn't been kidding.

Atem

Atem tried to concentrate of the conversation that was taking place between Shimon and Naeem, but he just couldn't grasp the conversation, maybe if he could take notes…? He sighed, yeah that would only work if he could understand what they were talking about in the first place. At his sigh both of the older men had turned to look in his direction, Shimon looked at him, concern written across his face, "Is something wrong Atem?"

Naeem on the other hand looked slightly amused as he moved his gaze over to Shimon, "If I may be so bold as to guess what the prince was thinking, I'd say he's having trouble latching onto the conversation at hand, and there for becoming quite bored. Am I right?" The shocked look in Atem's eyes that appeared only seconds later allowed the smile on his face to increase slightly in size, "I thought so."

Shimon, who didn't seem surprised by any of this, looked once at Naeem then back to Atem, "What is it that you don't understand Atem?"

Atem bit his lip as his thoughts ran through his mind, what was it that he didn't understand? When he realized the answer his face turned red as he looked down at the ground, "I'm afraid that I don't…well…I don't understand any of it."

Naeem's deep laugh filled the room; Atem looked up to Shimon and Naeem both smiling. Naeem gave him a slight bow, "Forgive me my prince, but I can't say that I'm surprised. This isn't the easiest topic to converse about, especially for those who don't know the history behind it."

Shimon continued to smile at Atem, "There are reasons why I haven't spoken of this topic before Atem, its history isn't by far pleasant. But it is time that you learned it."

Atem leaned forward in his chair as Naeem started, "The actual event took place say… nine years ago, so you would have been about seven at the time. You might have heard some older members of the various councils speaking if this or you may have not."

Atem nodded and looked down to write in information when he realized that he didn't have his notes, Naeem seemed to noticed and walked over to his desk to grab several blank sheets and hand them to him. He nodded thanks and quickly scribbled down what he knew. Naeem waited patiently for him to finish before continuing. "This topic is one that isn't normally discussed in the palace for good reason. You see this is one of the few points in our history that we were actually in sight of losing a conflict." Atem looked surprised and Naeem continued, "First of all have you ever heard of Atlantis?"

Atem nodded, "I know a small bit, wasn't it a rival civilization that we conquered?"

Naeem considered his answer, "Yes and no." When Atem frowned he paused to consider how to explain, "While it is correct that Atlantis is a civilization that has rivaled our own in the path it was not always so; back in the early reign of your father, the great pharaoh Aknamkanon, the other civilization was run by a great king named Ironheart. Ironheart had run the country for several years before your father, and it would be safe to say that the pharaoh before your father and the King of Atlantis hadn't been on the best of terms. The first few years of your father's reign yielded no problems between the two kingdoms, but soon the older disputes between borders started to return."

Atem scribbled furiously as Naeem walked over to a map rack and drew out an old one, he opened it to reveal the kingdom of Egypt and its shared borders with two other kingdoms, one that was labeled Atlantis. He pointed at a point on the border, "Our problems started here, this city was one of the most disputed areas during the reign."

Atem looked up and frowned, "What was the problem?"

Shimon sighed, "That was one of the major issues of this war; there really wasn't a problem that set it off, one could say that it was just a misunderstanding." When he saw Atem's confused expression he sighed, "Neither our side or his hand actually done anything unlawful since your father had taken the throne. What actually started the whole conflict was the fact that both sides believed that it was only a manner of time before the other would attack."

Atem frowned, "Why did we believe that?"

"The people of Egypt believed that the King of Atlantis had attacked them directly, they didn't understand that Ironheart had only reacted because of the elder pharaoh. Along the same lines Ironheart and the people of Atlantis failed to understand that Pharaoh Aknamkanon did not think along the same lines as his predecessor. So it was that a year and several months down the line after many smaller battles it was announced that Ironheart himself was going to be fighting on the battle field. Your father refused to let his people fight alone so he and his priests also moved to the battle field."

Naeem paused to let Atem take his notes before he took over, "The priests and their apprentices had been sent in several different pairs to try and negotiate peace between the two kingdoms, but both sides were too stubborn for their own good and all negotiations failed."

"So it came to the day of battle, a battle that would be known in history as one of the worst fought. Your father lead one while King Ironheart commanded the other, the men of both armies backed their leaders on the battle field, but in the battle itself the soldiers weren't the ones that would make the difference."

"Who did make the difference?" Atem had by now filled numerous sheets and was beginning to understand why they didn't teach this in palace history.

"The actual figures that made a difference on the field of battle that day were strangely enough the priest apprentices themselves. Five people who had almost been left behind because of their ages."

Atem looked up, "When you say the priest apprentices are you referring to…?"

Naeem nodded, "The current wielders of the Millennium items, should they be alive." Atem felt his heart pounding in his chest; Mahado had been in this war! He had somehow made a difference, he had to know how!

He looked up at Naeem, "What did they do!? How did they make a difference?"

Naeem glanced at Shimon, then shook his head, "No one is quite sure how they did it, only the five of them know the tale." Upon seeing Atem's shocked face he shook his head, "They refused to say anything about it afterwards, but we believe that that they had some assistance from the other side."

Atem looked down at his notes then back up, "What sort of assistance?"

Shimon frowned, "Well from soldier reports after the battle we learned that Ironheart had brought his own eleven year old son with him to the battle field, we believe that his son and his swordsmen might have also had a hand in the conflict's resolution."

"Swordsmen?" Atem frowned at the word, "You mean he actually led a group of soldiers?"

"Not exactly in the way that you might think, you see his group of swordsmen was quite small, only three if I recall correctly."

"So he was in charge of three men?"

Naeem seemed to guess what he was thinking, "His swordsmen weren't grown men Atem, the eldest was about thirteen and the youngest was around seven. And yet they were still allowed on the battle field, and if I remember the reports they did quite well."

Atem nodded, "So you don't know anything else about the battle?"

Shimon shook his head and shrugged, "Nothing much I'm afraid, Ironheart called a truce and we spent the next several hours negotiating for peace, which thanks to your father, came rather easily." He sighed, "The two of them set a number of terms that kept the kingdoms at peace through your father's reign, but lately Gozaburo hasn't been following those rules, and we of the court believe that we won't stay at peace with Atlantis much longer."

Naeem shook his head, and muttered his next sentence darkly under his breath, "Especially not with their current ruler."

Atem cocked his head, "What's wrong with the ruler?"

Shimon sighed and shot a glare at Naeem who just shrugged it off, "The throne now belongs to Ironheart's son."

"Why can't his son and my uncle just negotiate over new terms like my father and King Ironheart did?" Atem was confused, if it had worked before why couldn't it work again?

Shimon seemed hesitant to answer, "Well Atem…"

Naeem had sat down in one of the other chairs and head in his hands, "Just tell him Shimon."

Atem watched Shimon expectantly as the advisor sighed, "His son…he's well…a bit more ambitious than his father; I've mentioned peace treaties to your uncle, but he's not very fond of the man's type so I'm afraid that for the moment there's not much hope of peace." He sighed and looked out the window at the setting sun, "We should be returning my prince, we must leave quickly to reach the palace on time."

Atem sighed and nodded, Shimon was right at the fact that they had a long trip ahead of them, but he still had many questions. He glanced over at Naeem, one of which need to be answered now. "Naeem."

The man looked up and raised an eyebrow, "Prince Atem?"

Atem sat down in the chair across the desk from him, "You know this story just as well as Shimon, I can see him getting the information because he serves as an advisor for my uncle, but how did you get the information? After all you don't work at the palace."

Behind him he heard Shimon stiffen at the question and he paused to consider if he really should be asking it, should he have been anyone else but the Prince of Egypt he would have been most likely smacked for stepping out of line; but Naeem didn't seem to mind, in fact Atem was surprised to see a look of amusement on his face, "A very intelligent question my prince, you are far more observant than I thought." He rose to his feet, "And for that reason I'll answer your question, and while it is true that I don't work at the palace I did at one time." He turned his back towards the prince and looked over the books on his shelf, "I am proud to say that I served under your father, the Pharaoh of Egypt, for many years, after his death I stepped down. Perhaps someday I will return again to serve under the next pharaoh, but for now I am content to be here." He turned back around, "Does that answer your question?"

Atem nodded and he bowed before he held out a book, "Then take this as a parting gift, your father asked me to keep it for him and now I return it to you." Atem returned the bow and slowly took the book while Naeem turned and bowed to Shimon, "It was good seeing you my friend, I shall eagerly await your next visit."

Shimon returned the bow, "Take care of yourself, Naeem; until we meet again." Then he slowly led Atem out of the room and towards the caravan waiting outside.

As Atem climbed inside he looked over his shoulder to see Naeem watching him from the doorway of the house; he just couldn't get over how familiar he looked, but he couldn't place him. Naeem seemed to smile and pulled his hood up over his face so that Atem could only just make out his green eyes and a few strands of his black hair. He stared at him and their gazes held as the horses started back towards the palace and Naeem was lost from sight. And it was only after several minutes of pondering his encounter that he finally realized the face he had been trying to remember, a small fact that only added several more questions to his thoughts without answering anything. Questions that he was going to be thinking about the entire way back to the city, the palace, and to his dear cousin, Yugi.

Yugi

Joey pulled up sharply outside of the kitchen door at the palace, Yugi was clinging to him tightly and his breathing was coming in quick ragged gasps. "Well we're here." Yugi slowly got off the bike and Joey smiled at him, "I guess I'll see you later then?"

Yugi smiled, "Of course." Joey grinned then took off peddling down the street towards the shops below. Mai opened the door for him as he stepped inside, "Remind me never to ride with him again."

She smiled, "Didn't I warn you?"

He walked past her into the building, "Yeah, remind me to listen to you next time."

She smiled at him, "Your shift is over by the way, in case you wanted to visit your girlfriend."

Yugi felt his cheeks turned bright red, he had been forced to tell Mai about Mana when his shift had cut right through the time he had to spend with her, she hadn't minded of course but she had decided to tease him about it on numerous occasions. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say darling." Mai shrugged and headed over to one of the counters as Yugi hung up the cloak and raced out of the room.

He raced down the halls as quick as he could, several times he just narrowly missed bumping into someone, and everyone that he did almost bump into would spend the next several days very wary of going around corners. But Yugi continued to race through the halls, skidding around corners and practically tripping down the stairs. When at last he reached the bottom of the dungeon steps he allowed himself to slow down and catch his breath, then he rounded the last corner and headed into the dungeon itself.

He smiled at the familiar looking guard sitting at the table as he passed the teen nodded in greeting them went back to flicking the dice he was holding in circles in his hand. Yugi continued down the halls until he could see Mana's cell at the end. He had almost reached it when at the last second he paused and considered looking over his shoulder at the nearby cell he was just debating when he heard Mana's voice. "Yugi?"

He shook his head and finished the last steps; he could look in a minute. As he approached he saw the grin on Mana's face, "Decided to be on time this time?"

He blushed and smiled, "I almost didn't make it, I had to run into town to deliver Joey's bag since he left it in the kitchen when Mai threw him out."

Mana snickered and then raised an eyebrow, "So did you talk to him?"

"What?" Yugi said suddenly confused by Mana's question.

Mana rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Joey silly, did you talk to him when you delivered his bag?"

Yugi smiled, "Yeah actually I did, he's really nice and said that he wanted to talk to me again sometime."

She grinned back as she leaned back against the wall, "See what did I tell you? You're already making a friend."

Yugi's smile faded as a thought crossed his mind, "Yeah, but I don't think that my father would approve of it."

Mana shook her head and snuggled up next to him through the bars, "Don't worry about it, it's not that big of a deal."

"You don't think so?" He looked at her hopefully.

She shook her head, "Nah." She paused and her eyes brightened, "Oh yeah I made something that I wanted to show you!" She pulled aside a few of the rocks and pulled out a sheet of paper before putting them back, "Here, look at this."

He took the page from her hand and his eyes went wide as he saw the sketch of himself, all the line work was amazing and he almost felt as though he was looking into a black and white mirror, "Mana this is amazing."

She grinned, "Thanks, I did it yesterday after you left." He held it back out towards her, but she shook her head, "No you keep it, I drew it for you."

Yugi's cheeks turned red, "Th...Thanks!" There was a slight pause between them, each alone with their own thoughts. Yugi slowly looked up timidly meeting Mana's green eyes, the girl was watching him, her own cheeks a bright shade of red. They stared into each other's eyes for several minutes before Yugi's eyes flickered back as if to look over his shoulder.

Mana frowned, her expression clearly confused for a moment before recognition filled her eyes, "Oh!" She leaned over slightly to stare past him further out into the hall, her eyes searching for a minute before she leaned back around towards him, "It's safe."

Yugi let out a sigh of relief, "Ok, I just didn't want a repeat of last time."

Mana shrugged, "I don't blame you." As Yugi started to turn she reached for his shoulder, "I'm not sure how much you want to look though…" He suddenly felt unsure as he saw the look of fear in her eyes; he almost didn't want to see what was wrong. No, he had to look, he had to know.

He slowly pulled away and looked over his shoulder, his eyes widened and he heard a gasp escape his lips as he took in the scene before him. It was the same man, he had expected that, but what he hadn't expected was for him to look this much worse. He wasn't even lying up against the wall anymore; he looked as though he had simply been tossed on the floor. The slashes and cuts on his bare skin had at least tripled since the last time he'd seen him, and some of them looked worse.

He started towards him and heard Mana's gasp behind him; he looked back over his shoulder and saw the girl shaking her head and motioning for him to come back, but he continued forward despite the fear in her eyes, he had to know that he was alright. He neared the figure and with every step skittishly expected him to suddenly open his eyes and somehow try and strike him through the bars, but still he continued forward.

As he neared the figure he saw that the slashes were actually worse than they looked at a distance. Each cut drove deep into his pale skin and had blood seeping out of them; they covered his skin in random patterns that left some parts of his skin mostly unharmed while others were raw and bloodied beyond any way that he would have thought possible. He continued to watch him as his chest moved only ever so slightly; it was as if he was barely breathing. His heart started to beat quicker as he slowly reached through the bars and laid two his fingers on the man's neck to check for a pulse. His heartbeat quickened when he didn't feel anything, but just seconds later he managed to identify a slight pulse, though it was very faint.

Yugi frowned; this wasn't right, he shouldn't be treated this way, there was no way that his father would do something like this. Would he? He slowly started to pull his hand away back through the bars when the man stirred. Yugi paused where he was; he thought he saw, just for a moment, his grey eyes open slightly open and focused on his face. He quickly pulled his hand through the bars, but as he turned to leave he heard a voice behind him, "I won't tell." Yugi turned around quickly and once again met those grey eyes, he saw the teen's lips move again. "I won't tell them, I promised even if I have to die to keep it." He held out his hand weakly towards Yugi.

Yugi reached through the bars and took his hand, "Who are you? What's your name?"

He laughed weakly and shook his head, "I'm a dead man, but they'll never get my secrets. I made a promise."

Yugi felt tears coming to his eyes, "What promise? How can I help you?"

The redhead's hand suddenly felt heavier in his hand, he struggled to keep hold of it; all the while he continued to meet the gaze of those grey eyes, "You can't help me now, but if the others come asking about me tell them…" His voice started to drop off.

Yugi squeezed his hand tighter, "Tell them what?"

"Tell them…tell them…" Yugi held his breath, suddenly afraid that he might not hear what he had to say, "…that I tried." After the last word his eyes dropped closed and his hand went limp in his grip, Yugi felt himself shaking as he slowly lowered the figure's arm to the ground. He timidly placed his hand back on the pale figure's neck and detected a faint but uneven pulse. His eyes started tearing up as he slowly backed away still staring fearfully at the unconscious figure in the cell, he had back up several feet when he felt his back bump up against the bars of Mana's own cell.

"Yugi?" Mana's voice was a whisper in his ear, "Are…are you alright?"

Yugi continued to tremble before he half turned his head to look at Mana, "Y…yeah I…I think so."

She shivered, "Was he…? Is he…? You know…that?"

Yugi turned his head back towards the other cell, "If you mean dead, then no." Mana breathed a sigh of relief before hearing Yugi's next comment, "But he will be soon if he doesn't get medical attention."

He turned to stare into her wide green eyes; or the area where she had been only seconds before. "Mana?"

He turned around further to see her over by the far wall furiously kicking the wall, "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" With each word she kicked it harder and harder and her voice got progressively louder.

"Mana what are you doing!?" He leaned against the bars as she continued to kick the far wall, "Stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" She continued kicking it until her foot got caught on the projecting stone and she was caught off balance and hit the ground. She squealed and rubbed the newly formed bump on her head.

Yugi reached for her through the bars and slowly she crawled over, her eyes brimming with tears. "It…it's my fault that he's like that. If I had my staff then I could help him..." She broke down into tears and snuggled up against Yugi through the bars, who wrapped his arms around her as best he could through the metal.

His own eyes started to water, but he held back the tears, he had to stay strong for Mana's sake. He half turned his head to stare at the unmoving figure in the other cell, and felt Mana looking the same direction from where she was with her head half pressed up against his chest. "He's going to die isn't he?"

Her voice was a soft whisper and he only barely heard it. He opened his mouth to answer when he realized something; he had no idea what the answer to her question was. She snuggled closer to him as he whispered back, "I…I don't know…" Then his voice trailed off as the two continued to stare at the single figure, tightly clinging to each other until the guard came to take Yugi away to speak to his father. But all the while he kept Mana's drawing clenched tightly in his hand, and he didn't plan to let it out of his sight.

?

"Are we there yet?" A single voice broke the cover of the sands as two figures slowly moved along under the blazing sun.

"Shush. We need to be quiet or we'll be caught." The second voice was gruffer, deeper, and the man who spoke with it led the younger one across the sands in long strides.

"But!"

"Quiet!" They both dropped silently behind a nearby sand dune as the sounds of footsteps neared their current location and the two froze as a group of soldiers slowly marched closer to them. Neither moved a muscle as the distance between them and the group slowly started to close in until they were practically on top of them.

The two of them held their breath as voices were heard above them; they wore black cloaks to protect their identities, even if it did make it harder to hide and hotter under the sun, along with coverings over their mouths that muffled their voices, that however wouldn't protect them if they were seen. But as the voices were heard both first looked up towards the top of the sand dune, then two darker blue eyes looked down to meet a lighter more icy blue set. Both of them froze again as the voices started, "This is dull, there's never anything out here."

The icy blue eyes flickered upward in a vicious bloodlust filled manner, they settled back down on the other figure and he cocked his head to the side curiously. The older man shook his head and the icy blue eyes narrowed as the person attached to them crossed his arms over his chest and knitted his eyebrows together in annoyance.

"We've been searching for hours, can't we go back yet?" The voices had just passed them and the two of them started to relax when another comment made them stiffen, "Hey, what's that black thing?" Both of their heads snapped to the side to see a corner of the younger boy's cloak showing from behind the dune, the older boy looked into the fear filled eyes of his younger friend, no this wasn't good news.

"Attack!" The cry rang out and several yells were heard on the other side of the sand.

"We've been ambushed!" One of the soldiers screamed as he raced by, only to be struck down by an arrow.

"It's the resistance!" The last word caused his blue eyes to snap open wider and he slowly stood up and gazed over the dune, sure enough only a short distance away there was a small group of black cloaked figures and a large black dragon taking out the guards several at a time. Wait a dragon!? How had they managed to hide a creature of that size from a whole group of guards?

His thoughts vanished as a man raced past him trying to break away; he reached out and grabbed the back of the man's shirt, "I don't think you running away would be a good thing for either of us at the moment." He roughly tossed the man back towards the other group, and as he hit the ground he rolled to the side and took off in a staggering run in the other direction.

The dragon opened a single red eye and breathed a small stream of fire at the man, though he was out of the direct line of sight, the screams still reached the ears of those who didn't turn to watch. But although his younger friend stared at the burning man, his own eyes widened as the dragon shifted into a boy about the age of seventeen with shaggy black hair and lustful red eyes. The older man remained staring forward, where he had met the eyes of those of the man who appeared to be leader of the group. Blue eyes met blue eyes as the two stared at each other, both wore long black cloaks and face covers that prevented the other from seeing more than the other's eyes; and all around them the rest of the figures quieted into silence.

Behind the leading figure a second stirred and moved towards the teen who had been a dragon, his purple eyes half fixed on the two strangers, "Go search for anyone that might have gotten away, they won't do us any good alive. And don't get caught."

The teen grunted, "As if I plan to." Then he shifted back into dragon form and took off into the sky as the purple eyed man dressed in the same fashion as the others stepped up behind the blue eyed man who was still watching the two figures on the other side. "We should go."

"Indeed." The blue eyed man half turned his head and nodded, then he bowed slightly in their direction his purple eyed companion followed in suit, "Thank you for your help strangers, may you travel safely." Then the two men turned and along with the rest of the group seemed to vanish into the desert sands.

"What d' we do now?" The older man looked over at the younger teen at his side who was watching him expectantly.

"Well I suppose that the only thing we can do is continue on with our task, we can't be far away now."

The boy frowned and raised an eyebrow curiously, "Y' don't think they'll try n' follow us?"

The man sighed and looked off into the distance, "Whether or not they try and follow us isn't something we can control, for now keep our minds focused on the task at hand and hope that they're not going to consider us a big enough threat that we need to be dealt with at the current moment."

The other boy nodded and as the two started walked away from bodies of the destroyed patrol the boy once again turned to look at his older companion, "D' you think they recognized who we were?"

The older man glanced over then continued walking, all the while shaking his head, "Personally, no. But where we're from… well…" He paused, "That's hard to say."

The boy watched him, "What does your gut tell ya?"

The man sighed, "My gut tells me yes, but that doesn't make it right." He shielded his eyes as sand blasted over them, "Enough talking, we have a job to do and I don't know how much more time we have before the job won't need doing anymore." The boy sighed and nodded as the two increased their pace and continued out across the sands.

* * *

><p>Malik-Wow…cliffhanger…<p>

Bakura-Not bad…

Azzure-Let's finish this off Malik, the honors please.

Malik-The three of us, ok maybe not Bakura, but the other two of us want to know what you think. So do you see that shiny newly recreated review button down there? Well if you're nice and say hi to the nice button and then you click it you can leave us a comment. Also if you're not busy afterwards you can go to the pole on Azzure's profile page and vote on one of the new story ideas, we look forward to seeing your input. And thank you muchly.

Bakura-I sense Malik + sugar… Oh Ra…

Azzure-Also cookies if you can tell me who the two figures at the end are.


	6. Voices

Azzure-And we're back with another chapter.

Malik-And seeing as we haven't lost Bakura yet I'm going to say we're doing well.

Azzure-Disclaimer please.

Malik-Alright, Miss Azzure does not own Yu-gi-oh, but she wishes that she did.

Azzure-I can't lie, his comment is true.

* * *

><p>Atem<p>

He flopped down on the bed and groaned, every muscle in his body was complaining from the stressful traveling he had done for the last several days. Oh, how it was good to be home. "So how'd it go?" He looked over to see Yugi's cheerful amethyst eyes watching him curiously; the boy himself was sitting on the window sill looking out over the courtyard leaning back and forth without a care in the world.

"If you keep doing that you'll fall out the window." He remarked calmly, his head still on the bed. Yugi made a face at him but smiled and stopped leaning but continued to tap his legs against the wall.

"So…?" His cousin said slowly and looked at him expectantly as if prompting him to go on.

Atem groaned, "Yugi do we have to talk about this now?" The boy continued to stare at him, and Atem could have sworn that his eyes double in size. "Yugi I'm really not in the mood at the moment. Can't we talk about something else?"

Yugi pouted, "Aww come on Atem! Please!" He moved off the window sill and sat down on the bed beside his cousin; Atem was sure that once again his eyes had doubled in size making them four times the size they normally were.

He groaned, "No Yugi."

"Please?"

He reached up and pulled the pillow down over his face, "No."

"Pretty please?"

"Nope." Atem answered as he closed his eyes right before Yugi removed the pillow. He wasn't planning to give in; he knew every single one of his cousin's tricks."

"Ateeeeeeem!" He whined, "Pretty pretty please!"

"I don't think so." Atem said, his eyes still firmly shut, "It's definitely not happening."

"Oh come on pretty…" He paused in his whine and for a moment the room was silent. Atem cautiously opened a single eye and saw the boy sitting on the bed frowning, when he noticed Atem watching him he frowned, "What were we arguing about again?"

Atem laughed silently at his lucky break, Yugi couldn't bother him if he didn't know what they were talking about. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind, what were they arguing about again?

_He wanted to know how your trip went and what you did._ A voice commented quietly.

Atem smiled to himself; yes, that was it. He found it odd that he had remembered it so easily; it was almost as though someone had reminded him… He started to close his eyes when he snapped up into a sitting position, what just happened? _Hello? _He called silently, _are you here?_ When he received no reply he sighed and placed his head in his hands, he'd lost her again.

Yugi sat up and gave him a weird look, "Are you alright Atem? You're acting kind of strange?"

Atem looked at Yugi in momentary shock before he realized that he had yet to tell his younger cousin about the voice in his head. "I…I'm fine." He paused before continuing, "I'm really just tired from my trip Yugi." His cousin leaned up against him and rested his head on his shoulder, Atem sighed. "Listen Yugi…"

His cousin cut in, "I understand if you don't want me around right now, all you have to do is say something."

Atem smiled and pushed down on Yugi's hair, flattening it, "I do believe I already asked you to do that several times if I remember correctly."

Yugi gave him a playful smirk and brushed away Atem's hand allowing his hair to spring back up, "Alright, I get the point." He hopped off the bed and headed towards the door, "I get when I'm not wanted."

Atem laughed as he stared after his cousin just as the boy was nearing the door he spoke, "Yugi…"

The boy turned and leaned against the frame, "Yes?"

Atem smiled, "I promise I'll tell you about my trip in the morning alright?"

Yugi's calm expression broke into a grin, "I'd like that; I really would." He stepped outside and waved once again before closing the door behind him, "Night Atem."

Atem watched the door close with a smile, "Good night Yugi." He listened as Yugi's footsteps retreated down the hall, then when he was sure they were gone he sighed and walked over to the window. He sat down on the sill and gazed out into the night sky, it was so calm and comforting out. But as he gazed out there he felt a pain in his chest, while he was still in here he knew somewhere out there people were waiting for him, but he wasn't coming. And he had no doubt that they didn't understand why.

Atem felt a single tears slide down his cheek, why did it have to be so hard? He let his head fall back and rest against the wall, what were the gods hoping to accomplish by making him choose? What if he wasn't making the right choice? Would they do something to fix it? The stars sparkled in the distance, what would Mahado do if their positions were switched? What about the other priests? Would they stay with Yugi like he was? Or would they deem that their cause was more important? He groaned and grabbed at his head, he had so many questions, and none of them were ever answered. Whenever he tried to find the answer to one of them there would be half a dozen more that would join them, all without answers.

He pulled his legs up close to his chest and rested his head on his knees; perhaps, instead of thinking of more questions he should be trying to answer some of the ones he had. He let his mind wander to the events that had happened with Yugi, that voice that he had heard in his mind; it wasn't the same as the other one. But the question was how was it different? It had come exactly the way the other had; but it had sounded different. He frowned and bit his lip, it…it wasn't nearly as feminine as the first one, it was still light and higher, but not near as high as the first. It reminded him on Yugi's own voice, could that have something to do with it? Could there actually be two voices in his head?

Atem shook his head and hit against the frame; or I could just be going crazy, he added sarcastically to himself.

_I wouldn't go that far._ He jumped and practically fell out the window, only the quick reflex of his hand catching the window frame saved him from the fall.

He paused a moment to reassure himself that he had heard the voice, he wasn't quite sure which one it was but he knew how to find out. He took a moment to choose his words, he planned to start a conversation with this creature, and this time he planned to get some answers out of it. But first it was time that he let it know what he thought of it just popping in and out of his head like that. _Would you stop that! I just about died by falling out of my window._

_ I'm quite sorry about that I assumed that you were expecting it. _He was surprised to hear that it actually sounded sincere in its apology, but why would he be expecting it?

_Why would I be expecting you to be in my head? _ He asked, after a few seconds when he didn't hear anything he started to get nervous that it had left again. He, he corrected himself, this one was a he.

He was reassured a moment later however when he heard it again, _I just thought that… Ah never mind._ Atem frowned; he was so close to gaining something.

He prompted this voice. _No, you're fine what is it that you were you going to say?_

_ No, it's really nothing. _He sounded nervous and slightly frightened; _besides, it wouldn't be wise to tell you anyway._

Atem sighed; he knew more that he was letting onto; he was trying to hide something and Atem was determined to find it one way or another. _Alright, then can I ask your name?_

There was a slight pause before he answered, _ah…well…you see…I don't think that would be wise to speak of either._

Atem frowned and twirled a piece of string between his fingers; he was definitely hiding something, and he could tell that he wasn't about to give it up easily either. _Then what am I supposed to call you?_

_You may call me whatever you'd like Prince Atem._ Atem jumped again, this one knew his name too.

He frowned, now that he thought about it maybe he had been imagining two voices in his head, perhaps this was the same one, they were quite similar, but that still didn't answer his question. _How do you know my name?_

_ Ah…well…I'm afraid that…_

_ Not another word! _Atem jumped as he heard another voice in his head, this one he had definitely heard before too, and now he knew for a fact that the two definitely were not the same. _You say another word and I'll have to kill you, and we both know I don't want to have to do that._

_I wasn't going to…_

_ No!_ He flinched as it growled again, _just be quite._

Atem frowned; now there were two of them, and to him that meant twice the possible information. _So I suppose that I can't know your name either hm?_

_Obviously not, if he can't tell you then what makes you think that I can?_ She sounded slightly annoyed so Atem decided to lighten the subject.

_What should I call you then?_ He hoped that this one had more of a preference than the first, well actually she was the first, but not in this conversation. He shook his head, this was getting confusing; they needed names.

_I don't care, just pick something._

Atem groaned, so now he had to pick something. _Uh…well…_ He racked his brain violently for ideas; he had to think of something. _What about Siti and Sefu? What do you think of those?_

_Really? Is that really the best you can come up with?_ He flinched at her comment, he knew they were last minute but he didn't expect them to be that bad.

_Please excuse her; she's just very irritated at the moment. _Once again he sounded sincere; _I myself am fine with the names. Regardless of what she says I believe that Sefu will do just fine._

_ Alright…fine…I'll deal with Siti…_ She paused in midsentence and Atem once again became fearful that they were gone again. She returned a moment, _Sefu, we've got to go. Now!_

_What!? _Atem was shocked she couldn't be serious, he hadn't learned anything. _Wait! You can't leave yet!_

_I'm sorry Atem, but we have to go._ Sefu said, one again with a large amount of sincerity in his voice. Atem was finding it very hard to hold anything against him; Siti on the other hand was another story. _It was a pleasure of talking to you; perhaps we could talk again sometime._

Atem pressed his hands tightly over his ears as if it would keep them from leaving, _you can't leave! I have so many questions, you have to help me! _But before he had even finished his sentence he knew that they were gone and he was alone once again. "At least I know I'm not going crazy now." He muttered to himself as he pressed his head down onto his knees, "Although I learned as much as I have during every other time I've tried to figure anything out." He paused for a moment then groaned as he realized that once again along with his few answers he had picked up another boat load of questions.

Yugi

He sat in his bed absently tapping his legs against the side where they hung down towards the floor; he sighed and flopped down onto his back so that his eyes were staring up at the ceiling. He knew that Atem wasn't in the mood to talk because he was tired from his trip, but he'd been gone all week and Yugi wanted to spend time with his cousin. He sighed and walked over to the window where the moon was rising high into the sky, there wasn't any use whining over it right now because it was obvious that it wouldn't make a difference.

He continued to gaze out the window; of course right now he had a bigger problem of the fact that he wasn't the least bit tired, but was however bored out of his mind. He got up from the window seat and walked over to his dresser where he pulled out the hand drawn image of himself that he'd gotten from Mana, he smiled and set it down on the table before walking over a stack of paper nearby. He lifted up several of the sheets and revealed a half-finished drawing that he had started a few nights ago, he smiled and carried it back over to the table where he picked up his quill and went to work.

It was several hours later that he finished the drawing and held it up so to see it. The picture was of Mana, of course it wasn't near as good as the one she had drawn of him, but it was by far the best project he'd ever done. He smiled and set it down next to hers, then he wandered over the window and glanced out into the sky, by now the moon was high and nearing its peak only to be covered by the clouds, dimming its light and making it harder to see anything on the grounds below. He squinted and frowned as he thought he saw a couple of shapes making their way through the courtyard, it was much too early for the guards to be changing shift. He rubbed his eyes and blinked before looking down again and shaking his head, there was nothing there. He must have been seeing things because of the weird lighting.

He sighed and returned to the table where he picked up both pictures and held them against his chest, "I wonder if Mana is up." He commented quietly to himself, "I mean it is late, but maybe she's still up." He knew that the likelihood of her actually being awake was rather low, but something in his head told him that he need to try anyway. Besides, what would it hurt just to take a look?

He picked up his drawing and stuck his head out the door, the hall was dark and empty, and he knew the next guard change wouldn't be for several hours yet. He stepped out into the hall and quietly shut his door behind him before moving slowly along towards the dungeon. He had to pause several times on the way down because of the sounds of movement emitting for several of the rooms. He held his breath as the newest sound died away and he slowly continued down the hall, this wasn't near as easy as he had thought it would be, but he was almost there.

He came to the dungeon steps and slowly glanced around the corner looking for the guard that normally sat at the table, but there didn't seem to be one out tonight. It just makes it easier for me I guess; he thought as he slipped around the corner and into the darker blackness.

As he made his way through the maze of cells he couldn't help but think about how much darker and spookier it was at night, but he wasn't going to stop now. Not when he was this close!

He was nearing Mana's cell when he heard voices coming down the hall behind him, feelings of fear rushed through him and his eyes flashed red as he hurriedly looked around for someplace to hide. He finally settled on a small crack a short distance down the wall, and on the same side as Mana's cell. He crammed his small body into the whole just as two figures walked down the hallway, he craned his neck to try and get a better view of them as he held the picture to his chest; this was not what he had had in mind when he decided to come down here.

He held his breath as the two figures moved closer, he could see them more clearly now and was able to describe them based on the few features available to his eyes. One was considerably taller than the other by at least a couple heads; he was obviously the older of the two and larger in size as well. Although he wore black clothing that covered most of his body, Yugi could make out a bit of skin from where he looked up, and what he could see was muscled and strong. He shivered as he pushed himself back further into the hole, he really didn't want to be noticed now.

As the figures didn't move however and seemed to in place, his interest got the best of him and he leaned forward to try and get a look at the other figure. As he had determined earlier, he was much shorter than his friend, but that didn't stop him from looking just as intimidating. Of course, Yugi told himself, just about anyone who was better at fighting than he was looked intimidating, even Joey intimidated Yugi slightly. He was going to get through this; he was going to see who this was and he was going to be brave. Brave like Atem and Mana would in a situation like this, because they were the bravest people he knew.

He craned his neck again and leaned slightly to the side to get a better look, the shorter one had curious stubborn ice blue eyes that wandered around the hall as if looking for something specific. He frowned as he noticed that they still hadn't moved, why didn't they…?

"G…get away from me!" He stiffened as he heard Mana's voice cry out from just past the wall next to him.

"Quiet please, we need your help with something very important." The voice was from the figure who had by now almost completely vanished from Yugi's view, the shorter one still in sight, "This might be our only chance and we can't get caught!" His eyes widened as he continued to hide in the crack, he sounded worried, but what was he looking for?

"And if I don't want to help you?" He was relieved to hear Mana's voice again, this time much softer so as not to call any attention to them.

"Look sheila, this is really kinda important n' stuff so if ya wouldn't mind helpn' us out." Yugi frowned, this was the first time that he had really heard either of them speak, and also the first time that he realized that the shorter one had an accent. But although he concentrated and focused he couldn't determine just where he was from, his whole way of talking was alien to Yugi. He had to really focus to even understand half of what he was saying, and why in the name of the Egyptain gods was he calling Mana sheila? That wasn't her name.

"Mana." She said clearly, "My name is Mana." Yugi could imagine that she was glaring at them right about now.

The teen shrugged and nodded, "That's very nice sheila, now if you would be willing t'…"

He was interrupted by Mana's voice, "Mana."

Yugi saw his eyes narrow and glint with a dangerous look as he frown, "Look sheila…"

This time he was interrupted by his own companion, "Calm down, we're not here to argue with this girl. We have a task to do and whether or not she's willing to help us doesn't destroy that fact." The boy scowled, "Do you understand?" He nodded glumly and kicked the stone softly with the toe of his boot, his ice blue eyes glinting angrily. The man turned back towards Mana, "We don't want to hurt you or get you in trouble in any way, but it would helpful if you could give us some information."

Yugi leaned back and caught sight of a hole in the wall that peered into Mana's cell; the girl was watching the older man, her arms crossed over her chest. "What is it that you want?"

The man gave a sigh and relief filled his dark blue eyes as he watched Mana, "We're looking for a friend of ours, and we have reason to believe that he's down here."

Mana nodded, "Well what's he look like?"

The smaller one jumped in, "He looks a lot like a sheila actually, and not really that hard to miss."

Mana frowned, "Sheila?"

The older man nodded, "What he's saying is that to most people our friend appears to be female rather than male."

"Oh I see." Mana frowned, and looked thoughtful for a moment before looking back up at him, "Does he happen to have red hair?" The older man nodded and Yugi felt himself stiffen, could it be that they were looking for that other prisoner? He had said that he had friends, but were these the people he'd meant?

"Is that him?" She stood up and walked over to the bars where she pointed towards the cell forward and opposite of hers where the other prisoner was being held. Both men turned and started towards the cell, all the while Yugi leaned out of the hole as best his could and watched the scene before him.

"Oh my…!" The speaker was the boy with the unusual accent as he stared into the cell, "He's not… You don't think he's…" He let his voice trail off several times as he tried to end his questions, but found quickly that he didn't want to speak the last few words.

His friend however was hard at work looking at the lock; he held it in his hand and bent down over it, squinting at the inside. The ice blue eyed, strange accented boy watched him worriedly, "Is he alright Raph? He isn't… you know… is he?"

The man, he'd been called what was it Raph?, didn't look up from the lock, "We'll be fine, now if you want to be helpful see if you can get some information on how this happened while I try and get this open."

They were right in front of him and Yugi watched nervously as the younger went back over to Mana, "Can I ask you a few questions?"

She shrugged, and almost looked as though she felt sorry for them, "Sure I guess."

The boy glanced back over his shoulder repeatedly, his eyes looking far less sure and more nervous and concerned, finally he seemed to work up the will to ask the question, "H…how long has 'e been down here? D' you know?"

Mana moved closer to the bars, "Maybe a week in total, but not really that long." The teen bit his lip as Mana moved closer, "They did drag him out at different points though, I heard someone say that they were trying to interrogate him or something along those lines."

He nodded, sinking to the ground with his eyes focus on the stones and dirt, "That'd make sense I guess…" He let his voice trail off as his eyes flickered over to Yugi's hiding place, his ice blue ones seemed to lock with Yugi's amethyst own and for a single second Yugi held his breath as he knew that his presence had been given away.

"Are you alright?" Mana's voice seemed to break the trance between the two and the other looked back at her rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Yeah, I think so. Just thought I saw somethin', but I guess it's nothin'." Yugi let out a breath of relief; maybe he hadn't seen him after all. The teen quickly took his gaze off Mana however and returned it to the cell over his shoulder, he looked back several seconds later to see Mana's raised eyebrow and sighed, "I'm just worried I suppose…" He didn't seem to know exactly what he was trying to say, "I mean sure we fight n' all, but e' really is a nice guy."

Mana nodded and was just about to speak when the man emerged with the redhead draped over his shoulders sort of like a scarf, "We should go Valon."

The teen nodded and rose to his feet before starting to follow the man around the corner, but before he vanished he glanced back over his shoulder at Mana and bit his lip. "Um… 'ey Raph."

The man peered back around the corner, the other man still draped limply over his shoulders, "Yes?"

Valon gestured at Mana, "Can we take 'er with us mate?"

His friend looked unsure for a moment before he walked over to the lock, "Alright, but we'll have to be quick."

Mana raced over and blocked it, "No! Wait!" Both men froze in their tracks and watched her; she blushed and shook her head, "I can't leave."

The younger cocked his head, "Why not?"

Mana's blush deepened, "I wouldn't get to say goodbye to someone…and I can't just leave him alone here."

"Then we'll just take him with us too."

He nodded as if all the problems were solved, but Mana shook her head, "That won't work, he's not down here." She pointed up, "He lives in the upper parts of the palace, and besides" She bit her lip, "I don't think he'd want to leave his cousin."

"So you're just going t' stay down here then?" He looked slightly hurt, "Ya sure that you don't want t' come sheila?"

Mana nodded, "I'm sure." She looked around her cell, "Besides, no one ever notices me down here; I'll be fine I'm sure."

The two men looked hesitant before the older shook his head, "It's you choice, let's go Valon."

The boy waved before he rounded the corner, "G'bye sheila."

Mana waved as the two quickly rounded the corner and vanished out of sight, out of her view Yugi emerged from the shadows of the hole, "You should have gone."

She spun around, her green eyes wide, "You heard that!?" He nodded and she sighed looked at the ground sheepishly, "I didn't want to hold them up that's all."

Yugi frowned, "But you could have been free."

She shook her head, "I could never be free if I left you alone here." She leaned her head against the bars where hers was only inches from his own; they both stared at the ground sheepishly and didn't meet each other's eyes, each with their own thoughts and blushing cheeks.

The moment was broken however when a bell rang out over the whole palace and caused Yugi's eyes to open wide, "No!"

Mana looked startled and quickly scanned the surrounding area, "What!?"

"That was the bell to signal the guard change." His heart was beating hard in his chest, this wasn't good.

"What…what's so wrong about that?" She finished her question and it took her a moment before she realized what the problem was, "Oh no!"

Yugi nodded, "I don't know how they managed to get in here in the first place, but with all the guards moving around they'll have a hard time getting out unnoticed. Someone has to do something." His head was whipping around as his heart beat wildly.

Mana reached through the bars and placed one hand on his cheek. He looked back over at her and she smiled, "You go help them."

Yugi looked at her, his eyes filled with fear, "I don't think I can." His voice was fearful and tense.

Mana shook her head, "You can, I know it."

Yugi sighed, "Alright, I guess I'll try." He turned to leave but felt the page in his hand, he raced back over, "Wait…!"

Mana shook her head, "You should go."

He pressed the paper into her hands, "Take this." Then he smiled and took off around the corner.

Mana blinked and looked down at the paper, a thin smile spread across her face and she hugged the paper to her chest. Yugi let out a sigh of relief from where he was watching from in the hole before continuing down the hall.

He had raced through several hallways and almost been seen by at least five guards by the time he found them. They were hiding around the corner, having just narrowly escaped the guard that Yugi had dealt with only moments before. As he crept closer he knew that they were arguing, "We got get out of here Raph."

"I know Valon, but we can't really do that right now can we?" He sounded cross and slightly annoyed, and Yugi saw his friend shrink back at his tone.

"Sorry mate." He looked down at the ground, "I was only tryin' t' help." He gave a slight smile in spite of the situation, "We're in a real fix aren't we?"

He sighed, "Yes, yes we are." He shook his head, "If something would just distract those guards so that we could sneak by them…" He let his voice trail off and shook his head, "But that would be too much to wish for I suppose."

Yugi's eyes widened a distraction? He could do something like that without getting caught; he pulled pranks on Atem all the time when he wanted to get his attention. He snuck around through the shadows and took in the situation, there were two guards in the hall, and a large courtyard just out of a set of windows and a door, there was another door on the other side of the hall that would do nicely for what he had in mind. He crept around to a door on the other side of the wall and soundlessly slid it open; he crept through and shut it behind him. Then he crossed the room, pausing once to pick up a stone from one of the tables, "Here we go." Then he pressed his ear lightly to the door on the other side.

When he was sure that there was no one on the other side he pulled it open and gave a few practice throws before throwing the rock at the window. It crashed through and into the courtyard causing the guards to leave their posts and investigate the sound in the yard. He saw the two exchange confused glances before taking the free moment and silently racing down the hallway, Yugi followed them like a shadow.

They completed the act several more times, first they would pause at the corner and make a comment about the guards. Then Yugi would creep through the rooms and throw stones to keep their attentions occupied. And so it went on until they left the palace building and snuck out a wicker gate in the back of the wall. Yugi hid in the shadows and watched them go, but he was surprised as just as they were vanishing through the gate Valon turned around.

He looked around in the shadows but couldn't seem to find anyone; he shook his head and whispered into the darkness, "Thanks a lot mate, who even you are. Ya helped us out a lot."

Yugi smiled as he passed out through the gate, carefully shutting it behind him, then crept out and fixed the latch. He couldn't help however watching them through the crack as the vanished over the dune; he hoped that where ever they came from they'd get back alright.

His heart beat painfully as he thought of redhead; yes he really hoped that they would all be alright.

He looked up and around at the darkened sky and palace walls, not a sound broke through the night's silence and Yugi was amazed at how peaceful it was. He let the low soft breeze blow through his hair and suddenly realized how tired he was. He glanced up at the moon through half closed eyelids and sighed, it was already sinking lower in the sky. Even if he went to bed now he'd only have a few hours at the most of sleep before the bustle of life started in the morning.

He sighed and headed inside, of course he didn't have to help Mai tomorrow in the kitchen because Atem was back, so maybe he could sleep in… He shook his head; whatever happened in the morning was something he shouldn't worry about. He yawned again, at the moment he should just go and collapse on his nice warm soft fluffy bed.

It took him just a few minutes to creep up the stairs and he collapsed on his bed without even bothering to take his shoes off, so within seconds he was curled up in a small ball with his eyes closed dreaming comforting thoughts as the time passed around him.

* * *

><p>Azzure-Your turn Bakura.<p>

Bakura-Very well, be sure to hit that bloody review button on your way out, and we hope that we don't see you again at the next chapter.

Azzure and Malik-….

Malik-We'll work on the not so positive stuff…

Azzure-Please do…


	7. Dreams

Sorry it's been awhile since the last update, I know this one is short but I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Hope there are still people around to read this.

Malik: Also she still doesn't own Yu-gi-oh.

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><p><em> He felt as though the whole world was spinning in circles around him as he tumbled around with it, and to make matters worse his head now seemed to be pounding. The whole feeling was nowhere near pleasant, but only seemed to last for a few minutes.<em>

_ Finally the rapid feelings seemed to slow down to the point that he could open his eyes, but as he did so he found that things weren't quite the same as he'd left them. Instead of being in his room, where he was sure he'd last been, he seemed to be standing in the middle of the desert. Except that it wasn't like any of the deserts that surrounded the palace. This place had the same open surfaces with lots of dunes and sand, but the sun wasn't near as intense here nor did it give him the uncomfortable feelings he commonly got in deserts. Upon closer inspection the sand didn't even seem to be full sand, it almost looked as though the grains were actually tiny bits of glass. But they weren't sharp like they should be or even…_

_ His thoughts were cut off by a sound that came from behind him, it was muffled at first but he could have almost sworn it sounded like laughter. The crown prince of Egypt turned around and hurriedly scanned the dunes for the sound, hesitantly calling out the only name he could think of. "Yugi?"_

_ There wasn't a response from his cousin, but Atem did manage to catch the sound of playful laughter coming from his left. With another hesitant glance around he turned towards the sound and noticed something sticking up above one of the dunes. It glittered with a silvery white and almost as soon as he noticed it vanished out of sight. "Wait!" He yelled the word as he took off towards the dune and hurriedly climbed it; except instead of stopping at the top like he'd planned he went sliding down whole other side, sending up a large cloud of sand._

_ He coughed repeatedly as the sand cloud began to dissipate and managed to get a look around as it was clearing completely. The odd part of course was that this side of the sand dune looked exactly like the other side, there was anyone in sight and… He paused, wait a moment, it felt like someone was playing with his hair. Slowly he tipped his head back and his own red eyes met a single pair of blue ones. There appeared to be a girl sitting above him, she looked to be of an age somewhere between Yugi's and his own and was playing with a section of his hair between her fingers._

_ She had silvery white hair that escaped from underneath her cowboy style hat and dangled down over the right side of her face. She grinned down at him and Atem couldn't help but feel that he'd seen her somewhere before, he wasn't sure where but there was something about her face that he seemed to remember. "Who are you?" He spoke the question to her, but she didn't seem __inclined__ to answer and instead continued to play with the tips of his hair, a gesture that felt familiar on its own. "Excuse me?" She stopped playing with his hair and looked down at him curiously, "Who are you?"_

_ She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "You don't know?" He received a head shake and a look encouraging him to try again. "You can't tell me?" A nodded of positive from this question. Atem nodded thoughtfully, "I see, well could you perhaps show me why I'm here?" He changed his wording from tell to show seeing as the girl hadn't spoken a word to him the entire time._

_ At first he was afraid that she wouldn't be able to help him, but after a couple of minutes of looking thoughtful she nodded, "You can?" Another nod as she gently pushed him away, it took a couple of minutes for Atem to realize that he had accidently settled on the edge of her dress. He jumped to his feet and bowed apologetically, "Sorry about that." She simply smiled and dusted the sandy glass particles off of her blue and white dress before picking up the silvery white had and placing it firmly on her head. Then she nodded at him once before starting off towards their left._

_ Atem followed her without a sound, but as they walked along he couldn't help but observe the way she moved with such a fluid grace, it was hypnotizing and once again oddly familiar, though he still couldn't play why. Besides her odd grace there was also a childlike element to her character, she had the same large eyes and childish laughter that he found could associate will with Yugi. In fact the strange girl seemed to have a lot in common with his younger cousin; no doubt if they were to meet they'd be good friends._

_ His attention was dragged back to the present however as she took his hand and tugged on it, apparently he hadn't been moving fast enough for her liking and now she insisted on tugging on him to pick up the pace. Hurriedly he increased his speed to match hers, but he couldn't help but smile as they broke into a mad run. Her antics reminded him of an old game he used to play with a couple of friends when he was a child, he couldn't remember their faces, or where they even lived, he only ever remembered seeing them when his father would take specially planned trips accompanied by his priests. Now that he thought about it there were many memories from his past that he could really recall very vividly, he wondered to himself if that would be considered unusual. He'd have to ask Yugi about it later._

_ He was distracted from further thought on the particular topic because very abruptly the girl dragged him off to the side and behind a nearby dune, she signaled several times very sharply as though to tell him to keep his voice down. Cautiously Atem peaked around the edge of the dune, and felt the girls shift upwards as she peered over his head. It was evident as the figures moved closer that they were speaking, and it was only seconds later that Atem could make out what they were saying, or even what they looked like._

_ "I keep telling you that these are bad signs, when are you going to bother to listen to me!?" That particular speaker was tall well-muscled man who was pacing back and forth repeatedly; he looked very worried and stressed out about something._

_ However his companion, a young woman, looked rather relaxed and when she finally spoke she did so in a very relaxed manner. "I'll start listening to you when I see it fit to do so, but then I will continue to allow things to operate as I see fit." The odd part of the two wasn't so much their physical appearances, but their hair colors; the woman's hair was a vibrant shade of red, while her companion's a shade of blue; not exactly typical hair colors one would say in Egypt._

_ "But the prince...!" He man was cut off by the young woman giving him a stern glare._

_ "Will find a follow his destiny in time I can assure you, but until then I don't want to hear any more on the topic of this conversation. Are we clear?" The man however didn't get a chance to answer before he was they both seemed to freeze and the woman spoke again, "Did you feel that?"_

_ Above him Atem felt the girl freeze as though the strangers might have somehow sensed their presence, with that idea in his head Atem felt his own mind lock up in panic at the prospect, especially with the man's next words. "I did."_

_ He risked another glance out around the corner; the woman was now on her feet and seemed to be scanning for something. She paused facing in the direction opposite from where Atem and his companion were hiding, "It came from that way." She turned back her partner, "We have to go now!" She stressed the last words and almost instantly as her companion nodded and the two vanished in a flash of bright light._

_ Atem let his body drop and released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. That was probably one of the most thrilling and terrifying moments of his whole life, now all he had to do was deal with the new found worries that were making their way into his mind. He was interrupted when he felt a hand on his arm, he looked over to see the girl wildly gesturing back towards the other side of the dune and mimicking the two figures. "Did I hear them?" She nodded. "Well of course, they were a bit hard to miss."_

_ She blew at the hair strands and gave him a look that seemed to clearly say, elaborate please. "Did I hear what they said?" She nodded at him again, "About the prince?" Further nodding, he remained quiet for a moment as his gaze roamed out across the dunes and his thoughts turned to Yugi, "I heard them."_

_ She cast him a worriedly look as he continued to look out across the dunes, he wasn't sure how willing she'd be to listen, but he had to tell somebody. "I'm worried." He caught the motion of her head turning in his direction as he continued, "I've been having lapses in my memory lately, there are things I can't recall from my childhood that I know I should. I have so many questions that I think they'd answer if I could only reach out and get them." He turned to face her, "Like where I am, or who you are?"_

_ She looked taken aback at his statement as he continued to stare at her, "I recognize your face, and I know that I've seen you somewhere before but I can't remember where."_

_ A forlorn look passed over her face as she let her hand trail through the glass sand pieces and nodded. Atem felt his eyes return to the horizon, "I keep feeling like I should be doing something, but I don't have any idea what it is. It's..." He paused then sighed, "Complicated..." With a solemn nod she stood up and started walking away from him into the desert. He watched her from the corner of his eye but said nothing, because there really wasn't anything to say to her and his mind needed a moment to think._

_ What he missed were the tear drops that ran down her cheeks as she gently swiped her hand in a motion to the side, and the world seemed to break apart around him._

With a start Atem sat up, his breath coming in gasps as he noticed the morning sun rising on the horizon. So he'd fallen asleep, it had all been a dream. He put his head in his hands, "But it had seemed to so realistic. They all looked so familiar. Was it really just a dream?" He spoke the sentence aloud but no one answered and not another sound broke the silence.

He clenched sections of his hair in his hands; why wasn't he sure that he could tell reality from dreams anymore? Why was everything so patchy and blurry all of a sudden? What was going on?

Releasing another breath he forced himself to his feet; he had to talk to someone about this, and with all the secrets going around he wasn't sure if he could trust anyone anymore. No, there was one person he could trust. Grabbing his cloak he stormed out the door to his room, he was afraid he was beginning to go crazy and he had to talk to Yugi right now.

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><p>Let me know if you like it, I really appreciate any review that you could give me.<p> 


	8. A Bit of Light

Ok, so here I have a long overdue update, and I am aware that it is a bit short, but as a bit of good news I have finally managed to get back on my feet and conquer my writer's block for this story so updates should be out quicker then they have been. Also my muse has returned to do the disclaimer for you.

Malik- DemonYodaVoice does not own Yu-gi-oh.

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><p>He wasn't sure exactly what time it was when the pounding on his door started, but he knew for sure that it wasn't early enough in the morning for any normal attendant or teacher to be outside his room. Frowning Yugi climbed out of bed and silently walked over to the door, standing on his toes to try and peer out the small slit in the door and succeeding only in seeing the tips of several colorful spikes, but there was only one person he knew with hair like that. Without a second thought he pulled open the door, "Atem?"<p>

His cousin stood outside in the hallway looking very much shaken up, and Yugi could clearly see the dark circles under his eyes. Nervously he looked back and forth before looking back into the room again, "I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

Smiling Yugi moved to the side and pulled the door open further, "Sure, but when I said that I wanted to talk to you in the morning I didn't mean this early." His smile faded further as he saw the panicked look in his cousin's eyes when he stumbled into the room. "Are you alright?"

Shaking his head Atem dropped down onto the bed clenched his hands into fists, "I'm not sure." Silently Yugi said nothing but went to sit next to the other boy on the bed. "In the last few hours alone I've found myself with so many questions about my past." He shook his head again, "I see so many places and people that I can't remember, half of them are no more than a feeling to me but I know they're important."

"Who?" Yugi leaned in closer, "Do you know who they are?"

Atem shook his head furiously and let it drop violently down into his hands. "No, and yes at the same time!"

"Well…maybe we just need to take some time to figure this out then." He noticed Atem hesitantly raise his head and looked at him with a confused expression, in response he just grinned, "You didn't think that I was just going to leave you alone did you? I mean you did come to me for help." Atem nodded and Yugi looked up at the ceiling as he pondered where to start. "Ok, so when did you start getting these feelings?"

Atem looked thoughtful and sat silently for several moments before he finally spoke, "I think it was during Uncle's prewar meeting. I…I thought I heard a voice, and I was familiar."

"Can you remember where it's from?"

"I can't." Atem shook his head, "I know that it ties in somehow with my childhood, but I can't remember where."

Nodding Yugi continued to watch him. "What else?"

Atem sighed, "There's another voice, he's somehow connected to the first one but I don't know how. Then there are the priests of the millennium items." Yugi leaned in closer at those words, the priests had been a topic he was just recently introduced to, but most of the information was still hidden from him.

"You're talking about your friend aren't you?"

Atem looked up again, "You mean Mahado?" Yugi nodded, but frowned when Atem shook his head. "It's true that Mahado is somehow involved, but there's another face too." He stared off into the distance as though trying to remember it. "Shimon took me to meet a man yesterday, his name was Naeem, and he reminded me of one of the other priests."

"You mean the other one you saw on that night when you ran outside? The night dad was furious because you almost got yourself killed?"

Atem nodded, "Yes, I don't know if it's true but I swear the two of them are related." He let his head drop into his hands as he looked down at the floor, "I'm beginning to think that I'm losing my mind."

"Not let's not go that far." Yugi slid closer to his cousin and let his hand rest of Atem's arm as he tried to looking into the other boy's eyes. "Just stop and think about this for a moment alright."

Atem shrugged and sighed, let his head move up slightly and his arms return limply to his sides. "Alright."

Nodding at the fact that his cousin wasn't so downcast Yugi paused and let his eyes wander thoughtfully around the room. "Let's start what we know. You've recently been plagued by voices in your head that you recognize from somewhere…"

"Not just somewhere." Atem looked up at him; the lack of sleep seemed to be making him slightly irritated. "I know they're from my childhood." He paused and let out a long sigh, "Somewhere."

Pausing to make sure that there were no more outbursts from his cousin, Yugi nodded gently before hesitantly starting to speak again. "And you've also started seeing people who both look and hold similar jobs to someone you knew in the past. Right?"

"Just one, and he really doesn't have the same job anymore." As he sighed again Yugi couldn't help but notice how tired he really was, "But yes, that is the basic idea."

"Well since I don't remember a lot from my childhood, much less know anything about yours I'm not going to be able to help you." Yugi did not pause before continuing as he stood up from where he was sitting on the bed, "Nor will a lot of the others around here. In fact I'm not really thinking of anyone else who's been around that long..."

"Brilliant deduction, that's a real confidence booster Yugi." Groaning he stood up and headed towards the door until he heard a voice behind him. "I might as well leave now."

"Excuse me." Turning around he saw Yugi standing there, arms crossed over his chest with as much of a scowl as he could muster written across his face. Realizing that he once again had gotten ahold of the other's attention he cleared his throat, "If you would stop interrupting me then you would know that I still have more to say."

Atem couldn't help but smile at the way Yugi stood straight and attempted the dignified, proper pose that his father and so many other men on the council always used. Sighing he turned back around and sat on the bed, one leg folded up underneath him as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Very well, I apologize for interrupting you. Please feel free to continue with what you were saying."

"I said that lots of people couldn't help you, but I never said there wasn't anybody."

Curiously Atem watched his cousin, "Go on."

"Shimon's been around here for a while has he? Couldn't he help you with this sort of stuff?"

"Yes but…" Atem hesitated, "to talk with him means that I'd have to admit to spying on his conversations."

"No you wouldn't." Yugi came over and dropped down next to him, "Just leave those parts out, it's not like he'll know the difference."

Atem stared at his cousin, "You think?"

"Yeah, I think. Otherwise you wouldn't have much help right now." Atem rolled his eyes and halfheartedly tried to smack Yugi, a movement that the other boy easily dodged. Taking the moment of motion Atem tackled Yugi onto the bed and the two of them wrestled around for a few minutes until they just lay there breathless and laughing. Smiling Atem rolled onto his side and looked down at his cousin who was still lying flat on the bed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to talk to him tomorrow, after spending time with you of course." His cousin smiled as the two lay in silence, however Atem finally pushed himself up off the bed and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Glancing back over his shoulder Atem saw Yugi had sat up and was now watching him with a sad expression written on his face.

Shrugging the prince leaned against the wall, "Back to my room."

"You don't have to go. You could stay here." Atem couldn't help but smile at his cousin. "I'm serious!"

"I know you are, but aren't we a little old for that?"

He saw his cousin look away shyly, "But what if your voices come back, you don't want to be alone do you?"

Atem sighed; Yugi did make a good point, if there was a chance that one of the mystery voices did return he would feel better having his cousin around. "Alright, but only for tonight."

Squeaking with joy Yugi returned to the bed and Atem climbed in beside him and in moments the smaller one was curled into his chest. "Night Atem."

"Good night Yugi." He would have thought that he was unable to sleep, but between listening to Yugi's soft breathing and feeling the warm presence against him he found himself dosing off into a peaceful slumber.

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><p>And there you have it. Please feel free to leave a review and for those who have followed or favorited the story I would like to inform you that I will be doing some updates on the other chapters to fix minor spelling and grammar errors, not sure whether or not it will inform you of that but I felt it was best to clarify before hand.<p>

-DemonYodaVoice


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